SAIC Motor Corp., owner of MG Motor UK, has spent 1 billion pounds (10.7 billion yuan) to resurrect MG and its sister brand Roewe, formerly Rover. The Shanghai-based automaker will spend another 23.5 billion yuan to boost MG and Roewe sales to 700,000 by 2015.

Last year, the two brands sold 160,397 cars, mainly in China. Only 2,000 were exported abroad.

Last month MG launched sales of the MG6 compact car in the UK, the first new car assembled at its Longbridge, England, plant in 16 years. The model will go on sale in mainland Europe next year when a diesel engine is ready.

MG has a range of six new models is at various stages of launch or development. These are:

-- The MG3 small hatchback, a roomy, sporty-looking car that already has been successfully launched in China. The MG3 will launch in the UK at the end of 2012.

-- The MG5, a compact model that will rival cars such as the Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus. Revealed in concept form at the Shanghai auto show in April, this hatchback will be key to the brand's mainstream revival in both the UK and mainland Europe when it arrives in 2013.

-- An SUV-style crossover will go on sale in 2014 in the UK to rival the Nissan Qashqai.

-- Also in 2014, a replacement will launch in the UK for the MG7, which is based on the Rover 75. The new hatchback version draws on SAIC's partnership with General Motors Co. in China and will share the Epsilon 2 platform used by the Opel Insignia, according to Chen Xhixin, SAIC Motor's executive vice president.

-- A replacement for the TF roadster is due in 2016 in the UK.

-- A small EV based on the Roewe E1 concept is planned for a 2012 launch in China.

SAIC, China's largest automaker, sold more than 3.6 million vehicles last year. The automaker will restrict Roewe brand sales to small sedans in China and will export MG-badged hatchbacks, small SUVs and sports cars to markets in Africa and South America, as well as Europe.

The two brands share platforms but are increasingly separate in terms of body styling, with MG focusing on European, and more specifically, British design, according to Tony Williams-Kenny, SAIC Motors global design director. "British values are key to what we're doing [with MG]. We've got to make sure those values are fashionable, youthful and on trend," he said.

The MG5 was revealed as a concept car at the Shanghai auto show in April.

"It's time to fall in love again," was the advertising slogan accompanying the UK launch of the MG6. But MG may have a hard time convincing MG's birthplace that the new range of cars is worthy of the badge. SAIC produces 80 percent of the MG6 model at its Lingang assembly plants near Shanghai.

Of the new models, only the MG6 will be built in Longbridge. "How we manage manufacturing [in the UK] depends on investment and that depends on sales," Xhixin said at a press event in Shanghai.