Chicagoland MG Club: Driveline

January 2017

New Directions
Monthly Column of Driving Events

Happy New Year to all and a great 2017 Driving Season for you and your MGs. 2016 was a very good driving year for our clubs. And with a little bit of planning, 2017 can even be better.

What do I mean with better? Well, in the first place I would like to see more participation. Most events in 2016 already saw a record number of MGs but there is really no reason why we can’t have even more MG’s come out in 2017. We had a fantastic variety of driving events, from rallies, garage tours, weekend tours, social outings, autocross, and technical meetings. If you participated in some of these this year and liked the experience, plan on returning in 2017. And if you’ve never been to some of these varieties, plan on trying out at least one in 2017. If we all do that, 2017 will easily beat the 2016 numbers.

With better, I also mean more events. We had a little bit of everything this year and I hope that we’ll find some new events or event types in 2017. We’re planning to bring back an early summer tour. It may not be exactly like the Secrets of Jo Daviess County Tour, but something along those lines. I’m also looking for someone to pick up the Lake Tour and maybe return to the Burnham Park Yacht Club like we did for the 4050 Tour. And wouldn’t it be nice to do 4 or 5 rallies again in 2017? All it takes are a few people to take the lead and be the rally or tour master and put the event on the calendar.

And finally, we can try to do a little better with the invitations for our events in the Driveline and Vintage Viewpoint. Timely announcements will allow you to plan

ahead and block your calendars to keep the day free from other commitments. That way, when the events comes, you can participate. And after the events we can maybe provide the newsletter editors with more photos and more event reports, maybe even a little personal story of how you experienced the event. The readers of our newsletters who didn’t participate want to read about what is going on with the Driving Season. And if the stories and photos look really good, they may think that they missed out on a great driving event and decide to join us for one of the next events.

Did you notice that the things, that can make our 2017 Driving Season even better have one thing in common? Yes, that’s right. All three involve you, the members. The MG Clubs of Chicago need you, the members, to come out with your MGs to participate in the tours, rallies, autocross, and technical and social events. We need you, the members, to think about new events and maybe step up and organize something. And we need all of us to do better publication before and after the driving events for the newsletters.

We’ll start planning the calendar soon and I hope to hear your ideas, suggestions, and plans for the events that we are going to support. And if you have any questions please let me know. Or, you can take a look at the list of awards that we handed out at the Holiday Party, the people who won the awards in the various categories are the ones to ask, They know how it is done, The complete list was published in the December issues of the newsletters and I’d be happy to send you a copy if you prefer.

at 847 342 9804, or email me at reinoutvogt@gmail.com

"The more you think about driving,
the more you smile".

-- Reinout Vogt

MG ceases UK production
Posted by Dreamcars on 09/23/2016

British brand MG, which is owned by Chinese automotive giant SAIC, will not produce its range of cars at its Longbridge plant. MG is to cease production of cars at its Longbridge plant, five years after the brand started producing cars there once more. Production will now take place in China, ending MG’s UK-based finishing production. The move has been under consideration for as long as two years, according to MG’s head of sales and marketing, Matthew Cheyne.

Cheyne explained that there were many reasons for the relocation, but the main reason for the decision was MG looking to streamline its production process because its UK plant’s production output could not compete with its larger, more modern facilities in China. “Small volumes aren’t economically viable at a site of Longbridge’s size. Elsewhere in the world we have state-of-the-art facilities, so it’s more cost-effective to import and build them elsewhere. There was no efficient way to carry on doing it in the UK.,” Cheyne explained.

Cheyne further explained that since the value of the pound dropped following the Brexit vote, the cost to MG of producing its product range rose, rendering the production operations in the UK no longer cost-effective. Alongside the move, MG is also starting a new initiative to build a more global product line-up, rather than starting with a car destined for international markets, then re-engineering and designing it to fit into the UK market. Cheyne also denied that the move would have any impact on the price of MG cars, given the economic benefits of moving production overseas.

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