Longbridge, home of the defunct Rover group, opened for business again yesterday, two years after the carmaker’s collapse.

Part of the sprawling Birmingham factory is resuming manufacture of MG sports cars, with the aim of producing 15,000 a year. MGs made at Longbridge will go on sale in Britain in September or October.

Nanjing Automobile Corporation (NAC), MG’s owner, will not say how many vehicles will be made this year, but it will be a far cry from the plant’s heyday. Longbridge once employed 30,000 people; now it has just 130 involved in car manufacturing. That may increase to 250, but still will be a fraction of the 6,000 jobs that were lost when MG Rover fell into administration in 2005.

The Longbridge site is being redeveloped, with a technology park, light industry and other commercial uses. NAC has a 30-year lease on a section of the site and says that it is committed to keeping Longbridge as the home of MG.

Yu Jian Wei, chief executive of NAC, describes Longbridge as “the spiritual home of the UK motor industry”. The Chinese company is already producing MGs in China, having bought the MG and Rover production lines and the MG marque from the administrators. MGs made in Britain will be built using engines and components made in China.

Mr Wei said that MG would be developed more as an international brand. Cars made in the UK will serve the British and European markets. The Chinese carmaker, which has invested £250 million in the brand, is recruiting dealers in Britain and talking to European importers.

NAC officially opened the plant yesterday by running several preproduction models off an assembly line. The company promised newly designed models in the future, but for now the MG TF produced by Longbridge will have only one or two cosmetic differences from those produced by the MG Rover group. Mr Wei said that this year NAC would concentrate on “style and flavour” rather than volume.

NAC also reiterated an intention to establish a research and development centre at Longbridge. However, Mr Wei said that this operation would also be carried out in China.

Mike O’Brien, the Solicitor-General, who attended the opening ceremony, said: “There are 135 jobs here, looking at 250. We lost 6,000, but most of those people have found employment. But it has been a difficult time.”

Richard Burden, MP for Birmingham Northfield, which includes Longbridge, said: “It will be great to see MGs rolling off the production line. NAC deserve praise for their commitment to make the production of MGs happen here once again.”

NAC bought the assets of MG Rover for £52 million after a battle with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, which had bought the intellectual rights to Rover cars.

— The road back

1994 BMW buys Rover and the Longbridge plant passes into BMW’s hands

May 2000 Factory sold to Phoenix Consortium

April 2005 Phoenix puts MG Rover into administration and the factory’s 6,000 workers are told to go home. Group goes into receivership

July 2005 Nanjing Automotive buys MG Rover, aiming to restart production at Longbridge by 2007

July 2006 Nanjing announces plans to start limited production of the MG TF at the factory

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