MG Rover is defending the controversial use of a Britain versus Germany campaign to promote its cars.
The company, which famously had a hard time at the hands of BMW, is taking the opportunity to get its own back after carrying out independent testing of the rival products.
MG Rover is using a war of words to make it a very anti-German affair, including references to the 5-1 defeat by England of Germany's football team, which is a more recent sore point for them.
MG Rover is boasting that it has scored an historic victory over BMW, beating the marque five-nil in an independent consumer survey carried out by researchers NOP. The results now feature in the company's latest advertising campaign.
Testing took place at Croft Racing Circuit in North-east England. NOP assembled a panel of more than 100 consumers to assess the similarly priced MGZT 190+ and the BMW 318i SE.
The panel judged both models across five categories. Using a combination of driving exercises, questionnaires and interviews, the panel evaluated the cars on the quality of their exteriors and interiors, the driving experience and performance, handling, driving enjoyment and overall desirability.
The research concluded that the BMW lost considerable ground to the MG on the road. More than 90 per cent of the panel judged the MG to outperform the BMW, which trailed the MG for throttle response, straight-line performance, acceleration, braking, sportiness and top speed. Seventy-one per cent favoured the handling of the British car, which recorded higher scores for responsiveness, cornering, agility, ride quality, road holding and body roll.
A conclusive 86 per cent said they enjoyed the overall driving experience more behind the wheel of the MG, compared to just 14 per cent who preferred the BMW. Reasons cited for this included the car's character, the excitement of the drive and the impression the car makes in a crowd.
When it came to looks, functional yet dull German design lost out to the MG's retro British styling. In the appearance category, the MG out-pointed the BMW for sportiness and distinctiveness, while the model's overall looks were considered by 75 per cent of the respondents to be more impressive than those of the German car.
The BMW interior was also marked down. It was beaten by MG for colour, comfort, roominess, styling, seat support and dashboard appearance. Overall, only 20 per cent of the panellists preferred the German interior, compared to 80 per cent who opted for the MG.
More than 90 per cent of the respondents said they believed the MG was better value for money than the BMW.
John Edwards, MG Rover's sales and marketing director, said: "You always take a bit of a risk when you commission an independent survey that makes direct comparisons with the competition. We were fairly confident that the same money buys a lot more MG than BMW, but we were completely bowled over by the results, which gave a conclusive victory to the MG ZT.
"Five-nil seems to be a familiar result when we take on Germany."