Les Jones

Economics > Chinese Company to Revive MG Autos

A Chinese company has purchased MG and will revive the brand, with some cars made in China, some in Britain, and some in the U.S.

I won't say it couldn't work. The Chinese have been successful at selling reproductions of American antiques and even reproductions of American guns. Some of those guns weren't made anymore because they were older designs (like the 1895 Winchester shotgun, 1896 Mauser pistol, or 1887 Winchester shotgun) that required too much handcrafting to be made profitably by a U.S. company with U.S. labor. The one question mark here is how economical this will be with British and U.S. workers assembling some of the cars.

P.S. The Chinese guns are made by Norinco. I won't buy any Norinco because of the company's horrendous ethical violations. Those violations are detailed in Norinco's Wikipedia entry, and include illegally importing and selling 2000 fully automatic weapons to undercover agents posing as Mafia in 1994 (and offering mortars, anti-aircraft missiles, and other weapons) and selling "missile-related goods" to Iran in 2003, which led the Bush administration to impose a two-year ban on Norinco imports. Besides all that, any money spent on Norinco guns goes directly to China's military industry.

P.P.S. That Wikipedia entry links to Nazarian's Gun's (sic) Recognition Guide in Norway. It's a great site, reminiscent of the Russian world.guns.ru if not quite as developed.