MG Motor: Strong Start in 2021

Those declared dead live longer: After the MG brand disappeared from Germany in 2005 due to the MG-Rover bankruptcy and was taken over by SAIC, it is now returning as MG Motor. Compared to 2020, new registrations in Europe tripled in 2021. One of the drivers of the successful year across Europe was the German market, which "accelerated" from zero to 101 distributors in 2021 and sold the majority of the 3,239 MG Motor models registered in Germany in the second half of the year.  “We have fully implemented our ambitious expansion goals in the German market,” says Philipp Hempel, Sales & Network Director of MG Motor Germany, and adds:

“In doing so, we built the network of sales agents with the first partner in January and the 101st in December and did a lot of groundwork. Strong, solid business relationships have developed. This is also reflected in good registration numbers, which picked up strongly from early summer. But we will certainly not rest on this – we want to continue to grow strongly in 2022 and are therefore looking forward to a new addition to our product range. The MG5 Electric will contribute to this growth – as the world's first fully electric station wagon.”

 MG Motor is currently scoring points with customers with a delivery time well below the market average. Despite the challenges posed by the ongoing semiconductor shortage and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, MG Motor Europe sold 21,946 vehicles on the European continent, compared to 7,200 units in 2020. In the former home market of Great Britain, where MG was always present even after 2005, the brand sold around 30,600 vehicles. In total, around 360,000 models of the MG Motor brand were sold worldwide in 2021, and in 17 countries it is now even among the top ten brands. In Germany and Austria, it has already overtaken numerous manufacturers in the lower ranks of the registration statistics.

SAIC remains China's most successful automaker

 The parent company of MG Motor, the Chinese state-owned enterprise SAIC Motor, found around 5.46 million buyers of vehicles from various brands worldwide – a growth of 5.5 percent. This marked the 16th consecutive year that SAIC remained China's largest automobile producer. Overseas markets significantly contributed to this success with nearly 700,000 vehicles sold, experiencing a sales increase of 78.9 percent compared to 2020.

What does this mean?

Lord Nuffield, aka Sir William Morris, would have been pleased – after all, "Morris Garages" survived alongside Jaguar and Land Rover as the only brand of the former British Leyland conglomerate. The current products fit the market, and the range is now expanding upwards with the Marvel R, which is sold in China under the Rover-successor brand Roewe Marvel R, and downwards with the MG 5 electric for under 30,000 euros gross. All that's missing is a crisp roadster to serve as the new (old) brand core and image icon.