Blog : Mad marque mix-up

Peter Stevens’ design facelift to turn the Ssangyong Rexton into an MG.

Now that SAIC has made its global ambitions clear, it has started down the path of global acquisitions. Recently it picked up a 49 per cent stake in Korea’s Ssangyong – the company responsible for the hideous Musso – so, before long (assuming the deal gets inked), MGR and Ssangyong will be bed fellows with SAIC…

Rumours are already circulating, stating that MG Rover has several of the company’s new SUV, the Rexton, on evaluation with a view to Anglicizing it and selling it here in the UK as one of its own products. A similar deal to the CityRover/TATA Indica deal.

Obviously, if the company was to market it, the Rover name cannot be attached to it, so people supposedly in the know are hinting the new MGR SUV could, in fact, be marketed as an MG.

In response to this assertation, we say that if MG Rover wishes to trash MG’s image, and fly in the face of the marque’s impeccable 80-year heritage, then go ahead, but otherwise:

PLEASE DON’T BUILD AN MG REXTON
PLEASE DON’T BUILD AN MG REXTON
PLEASE DON’T BUILD AN MG REXTON
PLEASE DON’T BUILD AN MG REXTON
PLEASE DON’T BUILD AN MG REXTON
PLEASE DON’T BUILD AN MG REXTON
PLEASE DON’T BUILD AN MG REXTON
PLEASE DON’T BUILD AN MG REXTON
PLEASE DON’T BUILD AN MG REXTON
PLEASE DON’T BUILD AN MG REXTON
PLEASE DON’T BUILD AN MG REXTON
PLEASE DON’T BUILD AN MG REXTON
PLEASE DON’T BUILD AN MG REXTON
PLEASE DON’T BUILD AN MG REXTON

I think in the long run, your MG customers will think you very, very much…

Peter Stevens' design facelift to turn the Ssangyong Rexton into an MG.
Peter Stevens’ design facelift to turn the Ssangyong Rexton into an MG.
Keith Adams

11 Comments

  1. The Musso was actually quite striking – unusual but not horrible. That was saved for the (r)Odious – Ssangyongs answer to the Ital – or possibly the Fiat Strada.
    Ugliest styling cock up I’ve ever seen and well worth the TR7 comment – “Oh, they’ve done the same on the other side”. The depressing thing is people bought them and having seen the local ones, appear to be looking after them!?!

  2. Musso was also the nickname for another dubious product not noted for its looks or charm, Benito Mussolini. Don’t think Ssanyong realised they were naming their premium product after an Italian dictator, but whenever I saw one, it always raised a smile.
    Also this must be the ugliest car ever made, like a cross between an armoured car and a bus. I thought the Chrysler Cruiser was bad until I saw the Musso.

    • I wondered at the choice of Musso, though it was also the surname of the 1950s Italian racing driver Luigi Musso.

      Rexton sounds like a leather effect plastic seat cover.

  3. Musso means rhinoceros in Korean.

    I can evidently see that no one who visits this site understand simplistic trivial automotive knowledge like that. All of know should be aware that you’re Aroline for starters, a site that endeavours to seek high knowledge of all things automotive, not to wax lyrical about how you never bothered to look up the definition of the word Musso, or the history of the SsangYong Musso – a trivial footnote in automotive history with a similar gestation period to the XJ40 (Clearly not true if you know your cars though we perceived it went for a similar period since it was a British design team led by Ken Greenley at the Royal College of Art that initiated the project for a perpetually cash strapped SsangYong)

  4. Musso means rhinoceros in Korean. Koppulso also means rhinoceros in Korean but usually used in a poetic sense or as a collective noun. Italian linguistic coincidences with the word Musso had no bearing on the name outcome for SsangYong.

    I can evidently see that no one who visits this site understand simplistic trivial automotive knowledge like that. All of know should be aware that you’re AROline for starters, a site that endeavours to seek high knowledge of all things automotive, not to wax lyrical about how you never bothered to look up the definition of the word Musso, or the history of the SsangYong Musso – a trivial footnote in automotive history with a similar gestation period to the XJ40 (Clearly not true if you know your cars though we perceived it went for a similar period since it was a British design team led by Ken Greenley at the Royal College of Art that initiated the project for a perpetually cash strapped SsangYong)

    • mmm, THe diatribe you gave makes no mention of the fact that NO ONE mentioned tha tthe name was rubbish, not one, they all mention that the car is indeep crap, in fact NOT ONE of the Ssangyong models that have been produced have been pretty, they clearly have no idea of design and how to attract people to the brand, which is why it continues to be cash strapped and looking for new owners.

      And thee relevance to the Jaguar, is ridiculous, I do not care, as no one does what the name means in various languages, it is just a name, and if SSangyong had actually done their due diligence they would have been FULLY AWARE of what MUSSO means to those “in the know”, and especially those in Italy, which is why it never sold there in any numbers to bother about, but it seems that Ssangyong do no checks, they just produce cheaply made, rubbish looking, and dreadfully unreliable heaps.

  5. In fairness, this blog was written in 2004, an era when large families still bought MPVs instead of pseudo-SUVs. This, however, was a proper SUV with genuine off-road capability, while the MG ZS is still primarily a jacked-up hatchback. It was definitely an early indicator of where the market was heading, though…

  6. That’s all true and 2004 was a different age, for sure! They have pretty comprehensively trashed the MG heritage since then, I reckon.

    • I disagree, FULLY, the vast majority of MG models through history have all been based on other cars, so no difference at all, and if MG were still here along with Rover, this is EXACTLY what they would be producing, why produce cars that no one is buying, if companies like VW and Ford are dumping their mid range cars, then why produce cars that will not shift, we are getting two new MG’s this year, and more next, and the sports cars are coming back, all bespoke, not rehashed using parts from many other models.

      MG today is selling more cars than they ever did under UK hands, worldwide, in fact last year they sold more cars than MGR ever sold in any one year, you may not like what they are producing, which is entirely your choice, but this is the ONLY company that has increased sales every year for years, even through Covid they shifted more cars than the preceding years, and this year they are already significantly up on last year, and will bust last years sales shortly, and thats before they have the two new cars coming.

      I like the way you say “Heritage” what heritage, as when you talk to people, even those that own them, they mention how unreliable they are, how they have to continually work on them to keep them in good order, you would never have gotten a SEVEN year warranty with anything from Longbridge, as much as I am sure we would all love to have fast Hatches, sporty saloons and sports cars, these are cars that are just not shifting anymore, Ford has dumped Fiesta and Focus from many markets, relying on the Puma and Kuga to fill those niches, which is exactly where ZS and HS are.

      As long as they continue to bring decent well made and reliable cars to the world, and at great price points they will shift, just a shame the new MG7 will not be coming to the UK as I would have one of those in a second.

  7. The Chinese built Hyundai Reina was renamed Verna in the Latin American market as it seems potential customers didn’t want a car that was a Queen in their language for some reason.

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