Who Owns MG?

MG is owned by SAIC Motor, a Chinese state-owned carmaker based in Shanghai, which has held the marque since 2007. The brand is British in origin only — founded in Oxford in 1924 — and the cars are designed and built by SAIC. Notably, Companies House does not name SAIC anywhere on MG Motor UK’s record: it names a succession of individuals recorded as having influence or control. Ownership verified 6 September 2026.

Who owns the MG brand?

The UK company is MG Motor UK Limited (05779958), incorporated 12 April 2006 under the name NAC MG UK Limited and registered at Longbridge, Birmingham — the former MG Rover site.

That previous name is the clue to the history. NAC was Nanjing Automobile Corporation, which bought the MG assets out of the MG Rover collapse in 2005. SAIC acquired NAC in 2007, and the UK company was renamed.

Parent company and ultimate owner

The ultimate owner is SAIC Motor Corporation Limited, one of China’s largest vehicle manufacturers. SAIC is majority state-owned: the Shanghai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission holds a controlling stake, reported at around 62.7%.

So the chain ends not with a family, a fund or a listed shareholder base but with a Chinese municipal state body. MG is, in substance, a state-owned brand.

The UK register does not show this. MG Motor UK’s PSC entries name individuals — currently Weiguo Cui, notified 24 October 2024 — each recorded under “has significant influence or control”, with no share ownership or voting rights band against them. The register is describing people who exercise control on the parent’s behalf, not people who own the company.

Brand owner vs operating company

MG Motor UK Limited sells and distributes cars in Britain. It does not own the brand, does not design the cars and does not build them. SAIC owns the global MG trade mark rights and controls product, pricing and distribution.

The heritage is genuinely British and the present ownership is genuinely Chinese, and both statements are true at once. Longbridge remains the UK base, which sustains the impression of a British manufacturer — but design and manufacturing are in China.

When the ownership changed

MG was founded in Oxford in 1924 and passed through the British motor industry’s consolidations — Morris, BMC, British Leyland, Rover Group — before ending up with MG Rover, which collapsed in 2005.

Nanjing Automobile bought the MG assets that year; SAIC acquired NAC in December 2007, bringing MG with it.

The Companies House record captures a different kind of change — the rotation of who is registered as exercising control. Xiaoqiu Wang (from 6 April 2016, ceased 10 April 2020), Xiaodong Yang (2019 to 2022), De Yu (2022 to 2024) and now Weiguo Cui. Four individuals in eight years, with no change of underlying ownership at all: these are executives filling a register requirement, not owners coming and going.

Related brands in the same group

SAIC also owns Maxus (LDV), sold in the UK, and Roewe, sold in China — a marque derived from the Rover name after SAIC failed to acquire the Rover trade mark itself, which BMW held and sold to Ford. It operates long-standing joint ventures with Volkswagen and General Motors in China.

MG should not be confused with other former British marques now under foreign ownership: Jaguar and Land Rover belong to Tata of India, Bentley to Volkswagen, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars to BMW, and Mini to BMW. Each was sold separately to a different buyer.

Sources and verification

The UK company details and the PSC history come from the Companies House register for company 05779958, where the current and three ceased entries can be read directly.

The SAIC ownership and the Shanghai state holding are established from company disclosures and reporting, not from the UK register — which, as above, names individuals rather than the parent. Anyone wanting register-grade proof of who owns MG will not find it at Companies House, and this page states that rather than implying otherwise. Companies House does not verify most filed information.