MG returns ?!?!?!?!?

[vexor]

Artist render of what the MG Midget could look like

New Smart-based MG Roadster could see production by early 2007 The UK-based Kimber group has assembled a high-profile set of European industry executives to revive MG sports cars using technology from the Smart car brand. By 2011, Kimber plans to be building two sports cars at an annual combined volume of 19,000 units. The first car to come to market would be a small roadster based on the Smart Roadster. Smart stopped building that model last autumn because of slow sales. The second vehicle would be a larger roadster using some of the components of the MG TF. The MG TF went out of production when MG Rover collapsed last April. The CEO of Kimber's management team will be Englishman Barrie Wills, a long-standing industry figure who launched the Elan at Lotus and also worked for Jaguar and De Lorean. Kimber's chairman will be UK businessman David James, a company recovery specialist who helped to revive the Millennium Dome exhibition complex in Greenwich near London. Executives with auto industry experience will take on key roles, including John Perrott, formerly of McLaren and Lotus, who will be the purchasing director. Italian Paolo Caccamo will serve as an advisor to the project. He is chairman of design and engineering specialist I.DE.A. Institute of Italy and the former CEO of Italian contract manufacturer Bertone. Former Freightliner and Mercedes-Benz USA President Peter Keilbach, a German national, is also on the Kimber board.

- AutoWeek