Midget gem

MG Rover and Tata Motors were planning a brand-new mid-engined MG Midget for introduction in around 2007, The Intercooler can now reveal. It was one of a number of projects that emerged while MG Rover was working on the rebranded version of Tata’s Indica supermini, which became the 2003 CityRover.

This new Midget would likely have been the cheapest sports car on offer in the UK, positioned below both the MG TF and Mazda MX-5. It would have been derived from an updated version of the Indica that Tata was planning, also to be offered in MG form, to complement the ZR, ZS and ZT trio. Tata planned to offer its own version of the sports car in India, which is where it would have been manufactured.

Tata’s exceptionally low production costs – MG Rover was able to buy in CityRovers at £3500-£4000 landed in the UK back in 2003 – would have allowed the Midget to have been made cheaply enough to be priced decisively below the MG TF, in the same way that the 1960s Midget and MGB were positioned to allow both models to win distinct bands of buyers.