MG EX-E

The 1984 MG EX-E was a technological tour-de-force with head up display system and a digital dashboard. It was intended to show what a mid engined sports car of the future could be.

Its mid-engined layout contained the 6R4 V6 engine (from the Metro 6R4) swathed in lightweight plastic bodywork and a bonded aluminium chassis. The car was designed to be extremely aerodynamic and had an incredible drag co-efficient of 0.24. The Austin Rover chairman Harold Musgrove ensured the car was shown at the Frankfurt motor show, in order to show the ambition of the company internationally.

MG AR6

In 1984 work had started on the AR6 Metro project. This was due to replace the Metro and would include MG and Vanden Plas variants. A soft top version was touted as a potential replacement to the MG Midget. This project got scrapped when the majority shareholder (the UK Government) wanted to sell Austin Rover and a decision to go upmarket was seen the best way to aid this.

MG DR2 (Then MG PR5)

Based on a TVR chassis the DR2 used a Rover V8. Deliberately styled for the American market, Rover eventually retired the DR2 because of its less successful business there.

MG F16

In 1985 a new design study, the MG F16 project was worked on. The first designs were of a front engined, front wheel drive car. In layout and appearance looked similar to the M100 Lotus Elan.

In 1988 Rover Group was sold to British Aerospace and sports car ideas were pitched to management and duly turned down until 1989 when the Mazda MX5 was launched to critical acclaim. The MX5 was a massive sales success and owed its styling and configuration to British sports cars like the Lotus Elan and MG Midget.

In reaction the MG sports car was finally given the green light. This was frustrating because a sports car could conceivably have been produced from one of the concepts way ahead of the Mazda MX-5. The Mazda had sold over 250,000 units at this point.

Getting Production Ready

At this point two concepts were considered. The DR2 and the F16. The DR2 was a luxurious cruiser aimed at the US market where a British car appealed. It could be branded Austin Healey or MG. The DR2 was built on a TVR chassis with the Rover V8 from the SD1, Triumph TR8 and various TVRs.

The F16 was a far more flexible design, and didn’t use external components, so this was selected as the car to develop further. By now the Rover Special Products division had been setup to allow more niche cars to get support without slowing the production of the saloons and hatchbacks that were key to the company finances. This helped the project get the support it needed.

The code name “Phoenix Revival” was chosen, possibly due to the previous projects that had been canned. To get the design done quickly, it was outsourced with the companies given the F16 body and configuration. Designer Gerry McGovern had started things off with initial designs for the F16, it was now down to the contractors to figure out where to go next.

Evaluation Stage

Each was driven by the Rover Special Products team and evaluated for ride, acceleration and handling. The first to be discounted was the PR1 as it used Maestro parts and the Maestro was planned to go out of production. The Rover Special Products team didn’t want to base the car on soon to be defunct components.

The final decision was close between the PR2 and PR3 but the superior handling of the PR3 was deemed best for the new MG. PR3 was straightforward to build for Rover. Despite Rover never building a mid-engined car (Metro 6R4 involvement aside), it was a case of using the Metro’s front subframe and attaching it to the rear of the PR3.

The decision to choose a mid-engined car was genuinely brave. MG made its name with front-engined rear wheel drive cars, so this was a radical departure that needed to appeal to current customers and bring in new ones.

MG had actually been working on the AD021 mid engined concept car for a number of years but this was overlooked when British Leyland decided the Triumph TR7 should be the new company sports car.

Engineering

No Honda parts were used with the MG F which made things easier when the allegiance with Honda ended. In fact the MG F was the only car Rover produced without input from Honda. The interior was borrowed from the Rover 200 and the high revving K-series engine powered it. It was lightweight, responsive and powerful. It later got variable valve control to further boost it’s flexibility.

Hydragas suspension system (still used on the Metro) was also incorporated into the MG F as traditional spring suspension can unsettle short wheelbase cars. This array of components made for a car that had almost everything built and designed in Britain.

Takeover Troubles

In 1994 BMW bought Rover from British Aerospace. This was great news for the mainstream models, but BMW were cautious about the MGF taking sales from their new Z3, so took the decision to not export it to North America. BMW also prevented any high performance versions from going into production to avoid conflict with the Z3. It was only in 1999 when BMW sold to Phoenix Venture Holdings when they were freed up to do what they wanted.

MG F Launch And Response

Once launched in 1995 the MG F would be the first all new MG since the MGB in 1962. The car received high praise from the motoring publications. It was often a benchmark of handling in its class.

Build quality, mechanical issues and dealer support let down the MG F.

With the mid mounted engine airflow wasn’t great, combined with the thermostat location this ended up causing head gasket issues. These were later fixable with an aftermarket kit. Uneven door shut lines were also an issue.

The MG F was later renamed MG TF but was largely the same car but running conventional coil springs and not Hydragas. Several limited editions were built and, without an interfering parent company some higher performance models were also built like the Trophy 160.

By early 2005 MG Rover Group was in a dire position financially. Year on year, European market share had halved and sales had fallen by 60%. It struggled on hoping to be bought out. The only company that had shown interest had decided against the purchase and MG Rover Group slipped into administration.

Why is the MG TF so cheap?

Rover no longer exists so lack of factory support along with the issue with head gasket failure means the MGF and MG TF are very cheap to purchase. The head gasket issue can be resolved with a kit and generally the MGF and MG TF are great cars. Having owned one for a spell, I found the MGF really fun and as an ownership proposition, really good. It was cheap to buy and run

BMW had sold Rover (and MG) to the MG Rover Group in the year 2000. It had been financially disastrous for BMW, even selling the company with a £500 million bank balance to keep the company running.

With this temporary increase in budget the MG Rover group immediately increased the range of cars by rebadging some Rover models as MGs (like the MG Metro years before). This created the ZR, ZT and ZS models, designed to appeal to younger buyers with more powerful engines and sportier suspension. Under the group 170,000 cars were sold in 2001, a record for the organisation and just a year after BMW had moved on.

MG had long been associated with Motorsport since its inception in 1924 and so, Le Mans, British Touring Cars (MG ZS) and The World Rally Championship (MG ZR) were just some of the race series entered to help forge the MG brand as a worthy Motorsport brand.

In the road cars department, the only purpose built MG was the MG TF. Everything else was a badge engineered Rover. MG wanted a “halo” product to better represent what MG stood for. MG also had ambition of going further upmarket too, so a serious sports car was needed. With no Rovers to rebadge and the new budget burning a hole in its pocket, MG Rover Group started to look for opportunities.

Members of the MG Rover Group admired the work Peter Wheeler had done with TVR, creating various rear wheel drive sports cars at relatively low cost. This proven formula was something MG had the brand to carry off.

One of the consortium owners Nick Stephenson was contacted by Bruce Qvale, the owner of Qvale Modena SpA about a potential distribution deal to sell his sports car the Qvale Mangusta in Europe. Stephenson thought the platform could be rebodied as the new MG sports car and so MG Rover Group bought Qvale cars for £7 million in early 2001.

De-Tomaso & Qvale Backstory

The Qvale Mangusta itself was based on the De-Tomaso Biguá. The Biguá was in keeping with De-Tomaso’s practice of using big Ford engines in Italian bodied sports cars. The modular Ford V8 was used, which made selling the car in America easier – this was also a key market for MG. The chassis was designed by Enrique Scalabroni an ex F1 designer. He’d created the chassis to be super rigid to compensate for the Mangusta roofless design.

Bruce Qvale and his company were brought in to help develop the new Biguá with the understanding that the car would be sold under the De-Tomaso brand. After some disagreements, Bruce Qvale decided to sell the car under the Qvale brand after $30 million had already been spent on development.

After Qvale had sold the company and design to MG Rover Group, work started on redesigning the odd looking Mangusta. Peter Stevens had already designed the ZR, ZS and ZT models, so was lined up to create the SV. Presented at the Frankfurt motor show as the MG X80, the car received a lukewarm reception. Stevens reworked the design and even found inspiration from the Fast & Furious film! The car was then renamed the MG Xpower SV.

MG SV Production Problems

Production couldn’t hit the 10,000 units figure MG Rover Group wanted because the Qvale factory was designed for low volume. There wasn’t time or knowledge to improve this so the plan was changed to make the MG SV a low volume sports car, with a higher price instead. The target production was intended to be 120 cars a year for a 4 year production run.

An example of the complicated production involved the carbon fibre bodywork produced in Britain, flown to Italy to be fitted to the chassis, then the whole thing was flown back to be finished at Longbridge.

The list price ended up being £65,000. This was down from the £100,000 first estimated, but still higher than the Mangusta (£40,000).

Marketing Hype

The production problems made the MG SV expensive to produce. A bigger 5 litre V8 model was planned which would form the basis of the MG SV-R model and would come in at an absurd £83,000. A deal with Roush was put together to enable the Ford V8 to come equipped with different states of tune. The supposed 1000 bhp nitrous oxide injected version of the MG SV was all but marketing myth and was concocted to get some favorable press coverage. These aftermarket upgrades seemed slightly desperate.

In basic spec, the SV and SV-R were very expensive and up against performance benchmarks like the Porsche 911 and BMW M3. Not only that, but another British company had its own muscle car undercutting the competition. The 328bhp 5.7 litre V8 Vauxhall Monaro was available from £35,000 in 2004, undercutting the MG SV by a significant margin. While it didn’t have the purpose built chassis and carbon fibre bodywork, it offered cheap performance and a distinct alternative to the German brands.

The Monaro was fitted with General Motors LS1 V8, which had a range of modification options, from increased displacement to supercharger setups. This made future performance enhancements easy to do.

Vauxhall’s plan was far less risky, just import some big Holden V8 cars, rebadge them as a Vauxhall and sell them cheaper than the competition. In some ways you have to admire the ambition of the MG SV project.

Unfortuately one of the key issues was around selling in the North American market. It was considered the best market for the MG SV, but there was no dealership network so selling it there would be almost impossible.

Like a lot of unsuccessful British sports cars, the SV was a great car. It was unfortunately hampered by its expense, when typically it was a brand to undercut rivals.

The finished SV ended up a curious mix of bought in technology, a sprinkling of Rover 75 switch gear and a surprisingly underwhelming American V8. The bodywork, all vents and aggression was impressively all carbon fibre; in an effort to distract Porsche buyers. Sadly this didn’t persuade many away from the usual brands.

Now imagine if MG Rover had scrapped the expensive carbon fibre bodywork, upped the performance and dropped the price. It might have stood a chance.

The SV turned out to be MG’s swansong as the company revealed massive losses in 2005 and was later taken over by Nanjing Automobile and all production was moved to China.