The two letters stand for Morris Garages, a car dealership in Oxford. In 1923 its general manager, Cecil Kimber, began selling sportier Morrises, and the octagon soon followed.
- Country
-
United Kingdom - Active
- Since 1924
- Founded by
- Cecil Kimber
- Website
- Official website ↗
A garage on Queen Street, Oxford
MG began as a sideline in a car dealership. The two letters stand for Morris Garages, the Oxford business that sold and serviced William Morris’s cars. SAIC Motor, which owns the brand today, still describes MG as short for Morris Garages.
The man who turned that sideline into a marque was Cecil Kimber. According to the MG Car Club, he was appointed general manager of The Morris Garages in 1922. At the time the business was the service arm of Morris Motors and was personally owned by William Morris.
Kimber wanted something faster and better looking than a standard Morris. He ordered six two-seater sporting bodies from the Oxford coachbuilder Raworth and had them fitted to Morris chassis. One went to Oliver Arkell, a member of a Swindon brewing family, and it was registered as FC 5855 on 16 August 1923. The Louwman Museum calls it the first recorded sale of an MG.
1923 or 1924? The birthday nobody agrees on
Ask when MG was born and you’ll start an argument. The MG Car Club celebrated the centenary in 2023, counting from those first Raworth cars. The company itself has long given 1924 as its starting point, and that is the year MG still uses: MG Australia says “Since 1924”, and SAIC launched a Cyberster Black 101st Anniversary Edition in 2025. Grace’s Guide adds a third view. Some historians believe MG only really began trading in 1925.
The octagon arrives in print
The octagon showed up on paper well before it showed up on a radiator. According to Hagerty, its first known appearance was in an advertisement for a new car called the Super Sports Morris, with the letters MG set inside an eight-sided frame. Grace’s Guide notes a reference to MG with the octagon badge in an Oxford newspaper from November 1923.
By the 1924 Motor Show, says the MG Car Club, the octagon could be found in most Morris Garages advertisements. The cars were a different story. Early MGs carried both Morris and MG identities, and when the flat radiator arrived it generally wore a Morris badge or a Morris Garages variant of it. The club admits that exactly when the enamelled octagon badge first went on the cars is hard to pin down. By the end of 1927, though, all of them appear to have worn it.
Who actually drew it is just as hazy. Kimber himself is often given the credit. Other accounts name a young employee in the Morris Garages office. Neither version appears in the MG Car Club histories we checked, and MG has not published an answer.
Two letters in eight sides
The meaning of the badge is refreshingly simple: M for Morris, G for Garages. What MG has never explained is why the frame has eight sides. No official source gives a reason, so any story you hear about the shape is a guess.
The octagon became formal property in 1928. The MG Car Company was formed in March that year, and on 2 April, according to the MG Car Club, the octagon was registered as a trade mark. It has survived every owner since, from Morris to British Leyland to SAIC, and through each redesign the basic idea stayed put: the letters MG inside an octagon.
Two modern updates are well documented. In March 2011 MG Motor UK launched a new corporate identity at its Birmingham plant. The release said the historic octagon was retained but given a striking new look, and that a new treatment of the badge would appear on all future cars. Then in April 2021, as L’argus reported, MG moved to a flatter logo. The octagon and the initials stayed at the heart of the design, but the shading and 3D effects were dropped in favour of a single colour, thinner lines and larger letters.
Why MG went red
Red became an official part of the MG identity with the 2011 relaunch. MG Motor UK described it as a strong, vibrant red with historic links to the brand, chosen to signify the passion MG generates. The 2021 flat logo, according to L’argus, is drawn in a single uniform colour.
From Abingdon to Shanghai
For half a century MG meant one place. Production moved to a former leather works in Abingdon in 1930, and the factory built MGs until it closed in 1980. After that the badge went to Longbridge, then through the collapse of MG Rover in 2005. Nanjing Automobile bought what was left, and at the end of 2007 Nanjing merged into SAIC Motor.
Landmark MGs, decade by decade
- 1925: Old Number One. Kimber’s special for the Land’s End Trial, registered as FC 7900 on 27 March 1925. It won a gold medal in the light car class.
- 1929: M-type Midget. Built at a new purpose-built factory in Edmund Road, Cowley. Its owners went on to form the MG Car Club in 1930.
- 1955: MGA. A new aerodynamic sports car and, in Hagerty’s words, the first truly new MG for the best part of 20 years.
- 1962: MGB. Built at Abingdon until 1980, with more than 500,000 made according to the MG Car Club.
- 1995: MGF. A mid-engined roadster with the Rover K-series engine, later updated as the MG TF.
- 2011: MG6. The first new MG since the MGF, launched in the same year as the red corporate identity.
- 2022: MG4. The first MG built on a dedicated electric platform.
The sports car spirit hasn’t gone anywhere: SAIC calls its electric Cyberster roadster the spiritual successor to the MGB. MG has had plenty of famous stablemates, too. In the 1960s it was part of the British Motor Corporation, the maker of the Mini, and by the end of that decade it had been folded into British Leyland alongside Jaguar and Land Rover. For more on how marks like the octagon come together, see how car logos are designed, or browse other classic car logos.
Frequently asked questions
What does MG stand for?
Morris Garages, the Oxford dealership owned by William Morris where Cecil Kimber was general manager. SAIC Motor still describes MG as short for Morris Garages.
Why is the MG logo an octagon?
Nobody knows for sure. The octagon appeared in Morris Garages advertising from 1923 and was registered as a trade mark in 1928, but MG has never published a reason for the eight-sided shape.
When was MG founded, 1923 or 1924?
Both dates are used. The first Kimber cars were sold in 1923, which is why the MG Car Club celebrated its centenary that year. MG itself counts from 1924.
Who owns MG today?
SAIC Motor of China. Nanjing Automobile bought the brand after MG Rover collapsed in 2005, and Nanjing merged into SAIC at the end of 2007.
Queen Street to Abingdon: the octagon register
- Founded
- 1924
- Founder
- Cecil Kimber
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Headquarters
- Shanghai, China
- Parent company
- SAIC Motor
- Current emblem
- The letters MG inside an octagon, redrawn as a flat, single colour logo in 2021
- Known for
- British sports cars such as the MGB
- Website
- Official website ↗
