MG's Longbridge car plant set to reopen

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A special ceremony will be held at the Birmingham plant to mark the next phase in the restarting of car production.

The new Chinese owners Nanjing Automobile Corporation (NAC) is to build TF sports cars at Longbridge with models due off the production line later this year.

Open for business: two years after closing MG's Londbridge plant will reopen

Pre-production MG TF sports cars will be driven off the newly re-commissioned production line.

Officials attending the ceremony will include Mr Liang Baohua, governor of Jiangsu Provincial Government, the home province of NAC.

There will be a special cavalcade of MG cars around the plant as part of the ceremony.

Almost 6,000 workers lost their jobs when MG Rover went out of business, dealing a huge blow to the UK car industry in general and the West Midlands economy in particular.

The crisis blew up just before the last general election and led to jobs being lost in companies which supplied the car giant with goods and services.

The Unite union welcomed the ceremony but said it would continue to press for jobs to be created at Longbridge.

Eric McDonald, the union's regional industrial organiser said: "Longbridge has a long and proud history within the automotive industry and Nanjing's ownership will be another important chapter so we wish it every success.