The first all-new MG sports car built since the marquee was revived by Chinese owners SAIC has rolled off the Longbridge production line six years to the week after the plant was first closed down.

6,500 workers lost their jobs when MG went into administration in April 2005, but work on the new design began again recently and the first MG6 – itself the company’s first new model for 16 years – was driven away by Longbridge employee Lisa Ponter.,

It is reckoned that several thousand of the new cars, priced at £15,500-£19,000, will be built each year, with some manufacturing taking place in China while engines and electrics will be made at Longbridge

The event will also be marked on Thursday with a convoy of demonstration cars driving from Longbridge to the city centre, where council leaders will host a civic ceremony. Saturday also sees the annual Pride of Longbridge rally in Cofton Park, celebrating the history of the plant which at its peak employed a workforce of over 30,000.