Vauxhall denies plans to sell SAIC's cars in British showrooms
General Motor Co.'s British Vauxhall brand says it won't sell MG cars in its showrooms.
The denial follows a Reuters report that GM partner SAIC Motor Corp. may be granted access to Vauxhall's British sales network.
"There is no plan to sell MG cars in Vauxhall showrooms," a GM spokesman told Automotive News Europe.
Vauxhall's retail network development department is helping SAIC subsidiary MG Motor to develop its own retail network in the United Kingdom, the spokesman said.
Reuters had said that SAIC could be granted access to GM's UK retail network to sell MG cars. The news agency quoted Kevin Wale, managing director for GM's China operations, as saying: "We have agreed in a memorandum that we would discuss the potential for MG to be distributed in the UK."
SAIC acquired MG Rover's Longbridge assembly plant in Birmingham, England, after it merged with its much smaller peer, Nanjing Automobile Group, in 2007.
Nanjing earlier had bought MG Rover after the English automaker suffered a financial collapse.
Next year, SAIC plans to start making MG cars in Longbridge for sale in Europe. The Longbridge plant can produce up to 10,000 cars a year.
In November, SAIC bought nearly a 1 percent stake in GM when the Detroit automaker launched a $20 billion initial public offering.
