"I once sat in on a discussion between two bankers and the Nanjing boss who was overseeing the restart of MG TF production at Longbridge,

The £18k relaunch pricing of the TF was questioned. 'We must not sell it too cheaply or people will think the quality low' said the Nanjing boss with irritation."

Hilton Holloway, Autocar

Many people would make that link and not just for the TF but would assume that because the TF was cheap the rest of the range will be low quality as well. Sales of the TF are not that important compared to sales of MG6 and MG5, loosing a few TF sales in return for setting a good quality expectation is well worth while. The Chinese dont always take the same short term view that the British tend to do.