Former LDV executive Guy Jones has won a new job at MG Motor 海角视频, the Chinese-owned sports car manufacturer based at Longbridge.
He has been appointed sales and marketing director at MG where he will be responsible for 海角视频 sales, marketing, public relations, after-sales and brand development.
Mr Jones was previously marketing director at LDV, the Birmingham van company that collapsed in June. His appointment was confirmed amid speculation last night that up to 25 jobs at MG’s production line at Longbridge were set to be cut.
READ MORE: {}
In LDV’s final months, he was responsible for launching a daily blog to keep the company’s workforce up to date on efforts to save the company, which at the time was owned by the Russian automotive conglomerate Gaz, run by oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Since June, administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers have been negotiating with a number of potential candidates to take over the LDV brand and assets.
They are now believed to be engaged in exclusive talks with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), the ultimate owner of MG.
Mr Jones, who held senior marketing roles at Bentley and Kia before joining LDV, was yesterday quoted by the website MotorTrader.com, as saying: “I am delighted to join MG at the most exciting time in its 85-year history.
“MG is a much loved iconic British brand that now has SAIC as a proud new owner, capable of developing the brand on a global basis.
“SAIC are already playing a leading role in China, now the world’s largest car market, and have ambitious global plans for the MG brand.
Most Read
“I am looking forward to playing a key role in developing this exciting new business.” Mr Jones could not be contacted for further comment yesterday. MG builds cars on part of the old MG Rover site at Longbridge after Nanjing Automobile Corporation, which is now part of SAIC, bought the production assets of the failed British carmaker in July, 2005, for £53 million.
It now builds variants of the MG TF sports car at Longbridge, including a special edition designed to celebrate the marque’s 85th anniversary earlier this year. The most recent registration figures available from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed that the company had sold 184 cars in the 海角视频 in the first seven months of this year. MG said it had benefited from the Government-backed scrappage scheme for cars and light vans, launched in an attempt to put the brake on plummeting sales experience by virtually all manufacturers in the recession.
The SMMT is expected to announce today that the scheme yielded an increase in 海角视频 sales overall for the third month running in September – a key month because of the introduction of new 59 registration plates.
The scheme, which has been extended after intensive lobbying by manufacturers, gives buyers who trade in cars and light vans more than ten years old a £2,000 discount – split 50:50 between the Government and manufacturers – on a new vehicle.
The SMMT estimates that about 70 per cent of the 100,000-plus deals attributed to the scheme, were additional sales that otherwise would not have taken place.