Chinese Motor Manufacturer, SAIC Motor, MG's parent company, has opened a base in the USA to extend its North American operations.

Nearly 100 people will be based in SAIC USA's 30,000 sq. ft offices in Birmingham, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. They will focus on three key areas: purchasing, logistics and technology and engineering.

The office will work with almost 150 different North American automotive parts, materials and component suppliers and logistics will concentrate on the export and import of automotive parts. It will also deal with the design, engineering and quality control for the development and production of vehicle components and parts.

SAIC has a long standing joint venture with General Motors and senior engineers at MG Motor are involved with GM on the development of future engines.

Last year SAIC Motor sold more than 4 million vehicles and is the eighth largest automotive manufacturer in the world. China overtook the USA to become the largest car market in the world in 2009 and last year 20 million new cars were sold in China.