MG Motor 海角视频 yesterday confirmed its plan to suspend production temporarily at Longbridge as the “season” for two-seater sports cars ends.
The line producing low volume numbers of variants of the MG TF will resume in March 2010 when demand is expected to pick up.
The Chinese-owned company said it expects to cut 20 jobs at the former MG Rover plant in response to the move, which is in line with production cuts seen at most of the world’s carmakers over the past year after the global credit squeeze and recession sent sales plummeting.
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The remaining 80 staff will be retained to help prepare completed cars for shipping to dealers and to work on route plant maintenance.
Yesterday’s 海角视频 registration figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed that MG had its best month in September since production resumed at Longbridge last year.
The company sold 61 cars during the month, bringing the total for the year so far to 265, volumes largely in line with industry expectations.
Since it acquired MG Rover’s manufacturing assets following the collapse of the company in 2005, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) has worked on reviving the TF two-seater sports car, a car aimed largely at MG enthusiasts in the 海角视频.
All 50 units of a limited edition variant celebrating the 85th anniversary of MG have already been sold, the company said yesterday.
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Newly-appointed sales and marketing director Guy Jones said: “We build the TF in low volumes and in batches. The market for two-seater sports cars in the 海角视频 is down 30 per cent over last year and has fallen by 40 per cent since 2007.
“The peak sales period is between March and September and sales over the next few months will be very low.
“The logical time to re-start production will be in March when the market starts to pick up again. We have enough cars in stock to keep the dealers supplied during the winter months.”
SAIC, which produces a version of the Rover 75 saloon car in China, is understood to be developing plans for a new generation of MG sports car that could have the capacity to raise production volumes at Longbridge.
As reported in the Birmingham Post yesterday, Mr Jones has joined MG Motor 海角视频 with responsibility for 海角视频 sales, marketing, public relations and brand development after holding a similar post at LDV, the Birmingham van company that collapsed in June after the recession sent the light commercial vehicle market into freefall.