Riley keeps the MG name alive

Apr 8 2008

A Worcestershire-based motoring entrepreneur is helping to keep the MG Rover name alive with the high performance MG X-Power sports car.

William Riley, a member of the famous Riley motoring dynasty, secured the rights to the model – which was intended to symbolise the renanissance of MG Rover in 2002 but floundered when the company collapsed in 2005 – from MG Rover administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers.

He has now launched MG Sports and Racing Europe and invested £2 million in a factory unit in Eardiston, near Tenbury Wells.

Mr Riley said a lot of time and effort had gone into the venture already but keeping the famous brand alive had been worth it.

The company, which employs 17 people, has so far produced seven of the cars – which sell for between £75,000-£90,000 – and has advance orders for 35 more.

The company currently produces around six cars a month but Mr Riley's ambition is to open a larger factory somewhere along the M5 corridor between Tewkesbury and north Birmingham, employing somewhere between 150 and 200 people.

Mr Riley said five of the cars produced so far had been exported to the United States, where there is the potential to increase sales among motoring enthusiasts who still crave a British-built sports car.

The supercharged MG is a direct descendant of Longbridge’s most expensive model. The car was one of the hits of the 2002 motor show at the NEC and it went on to star in a television commercial and also gained notoriety when presenter Jeremy Clarkson whacked his head against the car's interior during a road test.

The car is the only one currently in production to bear the MG name – the expected production of the MG TF at Shanghai Automotive's plant at Longbridge having stalled.