SAIC has announced a new factory for its MG brand in the Spanish region of Galicia - reportedly in the port city of Ferrol. It is MG’s first production in Europe since the Longbridge plant in Birmingham closed in 2016.
A modest plant
The factory is rated at 120,000 cars a year, but the announced investment - €200 million - is unusually small for a plant of that size. That points to large-component assembly rather than full local manufacturing. SAIC expects around 1,000 jobs at the plant itself, plus a further 2,000 at suppliers.
Why Spain, and why now
The factory is, above all, a way around EU tariffs. In 2025 SAIC sold 305,717 cars in Europe - more than Nissan, Tesla, Suzuki, Mazda or JLR. The EU’s tariffs on Chinese-built electric vehicles, in force since 2024, have hit those EV sales, and building cars inside the bloc is the most direct way to sidestep them.
The loophole may not stay open indefinitely. The European Commission is already weighing rules on how much local content a vehicle must contain to count as European-made.
A Spanish trend
MG is following a path others have already taken. Chery builds cars in Spain under its Ebro brand, Leapmotor assembles at an Opel plant, and Geely uses a former Ford site in Valencia. Spain is becoming the European hub for Chinese carmakers.
