NAC-MG's engine plant is now producing NV6 engines for its upcoming 7Z saloon...
NAC-MG and SAIC (Roewe) remain locked in the tough task of getting their own versions of the Rover 75/MG ZT into production - and although it was Shanghai's car that was shown first to the public (the Roewe 750 at the recent Beijing Motor Show), Nanjing's car isn't far behind, with pre-production cars already been shaken down. So, although many believed that SAIC was considerably ahead of NAC in introducing its new cars, the closeness of the companies' first engines off the line would indicate that the gap is closing fast.
On the 18th December last year, SAIC Motor announced the start of production of the KV6 engine following an intensive programme of production engineering, localisation of component supply and commissioning of its brand new £15m Baoshan engine manufacturing plant near Shanghai, ably assisted by Ricardo2010. The new 188bhp engine was part of the package of IPR purchased by SAIC in 2004 from MG Rover - and unlike NAC-MG did not include the provision of any manufacturing tooling or background expertise.
The team from Ricardo 2010 supporting SAIC Motor on the manufacturing launch of the KV6, engine included key engineering staff whose role involved the detailed specification of the production equipment required for the new plant, as well as its installation and commissioning ready for pilot production. In parallel with this, a team of ten engineers were based in Shanghai for the purposes of localisation of component supply, including supplier selection and development to internationally competitive standards. As a result of this work by the joint Ricardo2010 and SAIC Motor team, this powerful, Euro 4 compliant engine has been localised for almost total Chinese content and commissioned for manufacture in less than 14 months from the initial project specification.
Ten days later, NAC-MG's first NV6 engine rolled off the line. The first NAC-produced NV6 engine was greeted with a great deal of fanfare - with the Group's chairman Wang Haoliang, general manager, Yu Jianwei, and NV6 project director Zhang Xin in attendance. Using Powertrain tooling removed from Longbridge last summer, NAC-MG has shown impressive speed in getting the production re-started, and whereas it was thought that the company was about six months behind SAIC in getting its cars onto the market, the gap now appears to be considerably less.
Given that SAIC has expressed a preference to stay out of the European market until 2009 with the Roewe 750, we'll be seeing the Chinese MGs first over here - and the question remains to be answered: will there be parts commonality between the Chinese and British cars in order to help maintain a supply of parts for the Rovers and MGs already on the road?
...but local rivals SAIC managed to get the KV6 into production several weeks earlier. Here, Ricardo's manufacturing engineering manager, Steve Pitt, poses alongside principal engineer, Eddie Harris..
http://austin-rover.co.uk/index.htm?news200701f.htm