It's time to find out whether the new MG range is any good

BROKEN your New Year’s resolution yet? I haven’t, although for 2014 one of my goals seems to be a bit more ambitious than most.

This isn't about shedding a stone by sweating it out on a treadmill or deciding to raise a few more quid for charity. This year, one of my aims is to actually drive one of the modern day MGs and let you know if they’re any good.

Largely because I want to come to my conclusions about one of 2013’s great motoring mysteries. Why, when you weren't looking, has MG’s market share halved?

As someone who owns an old MG, I was actually quite excited about seeing the octagon badge back on the front of a brand new car, even if it was – whisper it quietly – engineered and designed at the behest of the firm’s Chinese owners. Yes, I know that quite a bit of the development work for the new range of MGs was done in the West Midlands, but the result still – visually at least – feels more Peking Duck than Yorkshire Pudding.

I’d love to be able to let you know definitively if you should cancel that Ford Focus order after all and rush out and get a new MG, but the sales figures suggest that the worthy-but-bland range of hatches and saloons just isn’t doing for us Brits. The most stats reveal that just 384 of you treated yourselves to a new MG, and that’s the figure for the whole of the UK. Compared to this time last year, sales are down 44%.

While the MG6 and MG3 might divide opinion among the motoring press – and I have read lots of favourable reviews, so this isn't just about cheap MG bashing – for whatever reason they just aren't cutting it with the great British public. 

Where, chaps, is the successor to the MG TF? Abingdon’s most famous automotive export – for all the turbocharged Maestros and Metro rally cars – is about keeping it simple, dropping the top and enjoying the sunshine for not much outlay. China, as we know, is the world’s fastest emerging superpower and MG’s owner, the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, is state-owned. Surely it has a few quid to chuck at designing a proper MG, which people might actually buy?

While I've no doubt the current range isn't THAT bad, MG deserves to do so much better. A brand that gets just about everyone nostalgic, a world that’s no longer too credit-crunched to buy into it and the state funding of an Asian superpower to make it happen.

A properly marketed, cheap, simple sports car is the MG we all want, but until then I'll have to contend myself with finally blagging my way into an MG6.

Watch this space…

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Qoros to launch new saloon at Geneva

ANYONE remember our exclusive piece on the talented designer from Merseyside who landed a job helping a Chinese firm to create its latest cars?

Well, this is that company's first European model - the Qoros 3 saloon, which is being officially launched at the Geneva Motor Show next month.  The company hasn't given much indication of how much involvement Alex O'Brien, from Thornton, has had in the design, but did say it's the first in a series of a models which will draw on young automotive talent from across the globe.

A spokesperson for the company said: "The new range of Qoros models is being designed and engineered by an international team of experienced specialists and new, young automotive talent, and has been developed with the support of internationally-renowned suppliers.

"Rapid expansion of the model range will be achieved thanks to an innovative modular vehicle architecture developed in-house at Qoros.  The clean, elegant styling direction – drawing heavily on contemporary European themes – has been developed to give all Qoros models an unmistakable brand identity."

Qoros, which is based in  Changshu, China but already has several facilities both over there and in Europe, says it is keen to launch a new model every six months.

For what it's worth I reckon it's not a bad looking car, and definitely better than its Chinese counterpart, the  Geely Emgrand EC7 which completely failed to win me over this time last year. What do you think?

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Talented Alex has designs on your next new car

A MERSEYSIDE dad has spoken of his pride this week after his son landed a dream job designing a Chinese car company's latest models.

Jeff O'Brien, from Thornton, told Life On Cars that after impressing car industry executives with his design flair his son Alex has now jetted off to Shanghai to help design vehicles for Qoros, a joint Israeli-Chinese firm which will be launching its first cars in the UK next year.

Mr O'Brien said yesterday: "Alex's designing and sketching skills are out of this world, and after completing the car design course at the University of Coventry he impressed a lot of design executives for different companies, who all saw what he'd come up with and wanted to take a look. One of them was a manager at Qoros, who spoke to Alex and was absolutely delighted with him.

"Alex wanted to work with Qoros because it's a new company, and they're really keen to use some of his design skills in their models."

The model which former Manor High School pupil Alex created to conclude his design course, a sports car design aimed at supercar builders Bugatti (pictured above), attracted attention from car industry executives at an exhibition, used to showcase the UK's latest car design talent, held in Coventry last year. Father and son worked together on the car, with Jeff, a retired Craft, Design and Technology tutor, helping to fashion the wheels for the model of Alex's sports car design.

Although work commitments in Shanghai meant Alex was unavailable to speak to Life On Cars, a Qoros spokesperson said of its new range of cars: "Qoros is a fresh, new brand without legacy. It is driven by a passionate international team of expert designers, engineers and marketers who are united in their desire to develop sophisticated and highly individual products.

"The company is dedicated to meeting an ever-increasing demand for cars that are highly differentiated from other products within a crowded automotive marketplace. In addition to design that is both elegant and functional, Qoros products will be distinguished by a strong focus on state-of-the-art technology, with high levels of user-friendly in-car connectivity and vehicle safety standards which compare to the best in Europe."

The first Qoros car to be sold in the UK, an as-yet-unnamed four door saloon, will make its European debut at the Geneva Motorshow next March.

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