A Minor mishap

Two decades ago, a plan was hatched to resurrect Morris and Autocar hada man on the inside. Richard Bremner revisits the Minor revival that never was

- Richard Bremner

A bold Anglo-Chinese MG Rover revival plan to resurrect the Morris Minor came within an ace of succeeding back in 2005. The scheme was developed in the immediate aftermath of MG Rover's bankruptcy in April 2005 and led by late former Ford of Europe and Maserati boss Martin Leach's Magma Holdings consultancy and Shanghai Automotive Industries Corporation (SAIC). It was one of three competing bids for the remains of MG Rover, which included the hardware to manufacture the Rover 25, 45 and 75 models, as well as the K Series engine.

The Minor element of the plan has only now emerged via your reporter, who was confidentially party to some details of the proposal at the time. The car wasn't detailed in the Magma-SAIC bid, presumably because Leach didn't want any competitors to get wind of it. Indeed, Steve Young of Indego Consulting, then a key collaborator with Leach, says the Minor revival idea "was something Martin came up with - I wasn't aware of it".

Young's specialism was more on business, rather than product planning. Nevertheless, it's likely that the new Minor would have been central to MG Rover's revival under Leach.

The Magma bid, backed by China's biggest car maker (which now owns MG Motor, of course), had real credibility, thanks to a combination of factors: Leach's impressive industry career; the backing of a company already familiar with MG Rover; SAIC having been in serious negotiations to buy the company before it went under; and the support of Unite consultant and former union leader Tony Woodley.