MG combines UK, European units as sales expansion continues

LONDON — MG Motor has merged its UK business with its mainland European sales operations as the Chinese-owned company continues its rapid sales expansion in the region.

MG had originally separated its longer-standing UK business, which offers both combustion engine and electric models, with that of its continental European business, which focuses on all-electric cars and was festablished in 2019.

Now both units fall under the control of long-time UK managing director, William Wang, MG said.

MG’s European sales almost doubled to 72,644 from 38,187 in the nine months to the end of September in the region, including the UK, according to figures from market researchers Dataforce.

The increase helped the brand overtake established brands such as Land Rover and Porsche.

The UK accounted for 53 percent of MG’s sales, but its share is decreasing as the SAIC-owned company grows its 14 markets in mainland Europe.

MG’s UK growth put the brand at 12th largest in Britain to the end of October, ahead of established brands such as Mini, Citroen, Dacia, Fiat, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda, Renault, Seat, Skoda, Tesla and Volvo.

MG predicts it will reach 50,000 sales in the UK this year. The company says that figure could have reached 65,000, but it lacked enough Chinese-built cars to sell.

The waiting time for the brand’s most popular car, the ZS small SUV, has extended up to 9 to 10 months, UK commercial director Guy Pigounakis told Automotive News Europe.

“I have been looking jealously at the number of ZS EVs going to northern European  — Norway Denmark places like that — because their tax regime almost precludes sales of anything else,” he said. “Understandably, they have been getting the lion’s share of ZS EV production, arguably at our expense.”

The ZS was MG’s best-selling car to the end of September at 29,651 cars across Europe, Dataforce figures show.

The HS compact SUV, however, gained from the ZS’s supply restrictions to take second place with 25,493 sales, up 120 percent on the year before. The gasoline version was MG’s best-seller in the UK to the end of September, which has dented the brand’s average CO2 figures in the market.

“We are 5000 ZS EVs behind where we thought we would be,” Pigounakis said.

MG will have better supply going into 2023 as deliveries of the new MG4 compact hatchback, a rival to the VW ID3, start to increase.

MG UK expects the car, which starts at 25,995 pounds and has a range of 218 miles (351 km), to become MG’s biggest UK seller in 2023.

In the UK, MG quotes order times of between 8 and 10 weeks for the MG4 and says it has 8,500 units of differing models arriving in the next five weeks.

“It’s the single largest delivery we have ever had,” Pigounakis said