In the early 2000s, the remnants of the British mid-luxury group, Rover (now called MG-Rover), which had recently been sold by BMW, their parent company at the time, to the Phoenix consortium, were believed to be a last-ditch effort to resurrect the brand and create models that could challenge BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz. Though most MG and Rover models were quite similar, MG managed to produce a variant of the 75 estate that stood out on its own. Ford, a household name in the car world, with connections to global manufacturers in numerous markets, was called upon by MG to lend some muscle to their docile mid-luxury wagons. Although this model couldn’t save MG from its demise, it set a precedent that remains to this day.
Read from: https://www.topspeed.com/european-wagon-manual-transmission-v8-but-nobody-bought-it/