News : Best April sales figures to date for MG Motor

MG Motor have posted their best sales figures for April since the company re-started activities at Longbridge. Dealers such as Eric Stead of Sheffield have contributed to the sales figures
MG Motor have posted their best sales figures for April since the company re-started activities at Longbridge. Dealers such as Eric Stead of Sheffield have contributed to the sales figures

MG continues its sales success with latest figures revealing April 2015 as the best for April registrations since MG Motor UK was formed.

Following the release of the new car registrations from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), MG is pleased to see a 39 per cent increase on April 2014’s figures. The British marque is also celebrating a 52 per cent increase from last year (year-to-date).

MG’s registrations, from January until April, have pushed the manufacturer past the 1000 mark which means in the first four months of 2015 MG has more than doubled the 2013 figure.

Matthew Cheyne, MG’s Head of Marketing, said: ‘With the release of the latest figures, it shows the continual growth and success of MG’s sales. These figures are increasing month by month, and this is all before the new MG6 has officially landed.

‘As our dealer network grows and dealers sell more, we will continue to expand as a company and we are still pushing for at least 70 dealers by year end.

‘With dealer demonstrators going out to our dealer network this week, we have high hopes that based on feedback, demands for test drives and deposits already paid; the new MG6 will bring the brand even more success.”

Mike Humble

30 Comments

  1. Encouraging, I suppose. I’m surprised they are being so optimistic about the 6, from what I can see it has been the 3 that has started to get a bit more interest in MG again. That said, I have seen a few 6’s on the roads round our way (Edinburgh/Midlothian) in the past few weeks, which rocked me back on my heels a bit. And, despite having the feeling they had a samey design, I have to say they were pretty much easily identified on first sight

  2. I’ve begun to notice a few Mg6’s around Newcastle where I live. A few are run by a taxi company. Good to see numbers increasing.

  3. I dont’t know if this are good or bad news. Of course is good to see MG back making cars, even if they aren’t truly sports cars. But, on the other hand, this cars aren’t british, once they’re made in China. So we should be more worried about buiyng british made cars in order to keep the british workers employed. We must accept the facts and understand that a Nissan Qashqai or a Honda Civic are more british than the new MG cars.

    • Fortunately, we have a lot of competitive product designed, developed and manufactured here in the UK. For instance, I’ve just put my money where my mouth is and ordered a new car from a certain manufacturer in Solihull. Long may it continue.

      I’m still perplexed how a Chinese company can run a small design operation and an empty factory in the UK, while importing its products from China, can still flog “The British marque” comments to death without serious challenge. Worse still, its press releases can then be published, in full, on sites which should be more questioning, then commented on favourably by contributors that really ought to know better!

      Funny old world!

      • Are people really just interested in British cars because they maintained employment in this country? If so, shouldn’t we just scrap all our old Minis and MGs and the rest and all buy Nissan Qashqais?

        The design heritage of a car matters far more to me than where it was built. If Nissan closed its UK factory then we would lose some jobs that would eventually be replaced. If MG Motors fails then we permanently lose a tradition of small car design that stretches back to the Austin 7 and beyond.

        • First, why are you saying that? Old Minis and Mgs were made in UK, so why would we need to scrap them?
          Then, I must tell you that I’m shocked about your lack of interest in british built cars. Cars like Nissan Qashqai are the kind of cars that not only keep the british tradition of car mass production, started with the Austin 7, but also keep the car development centers in UK.
          So, isn’t a chinese company with a british badge that will keep the british car design tradition. Do you think that MG6 and MG3 are cars that deserve to be called british? Honestly, I think that UK can make cars much better than these.

          When MG start producing cars in UK, I will change my opinion, but until then it will be just a chinese brand that sells in the UK cars made for the chinese market.

  4. Still no sign of any 3’s or 6’s on the roads here in Cardiff despite living less than a mile from the dealer

    • Hi Mike

      Drop into Penarth anytime and you’ll see around half a dozen 3’s and a couple of 6’s.

      Drop into Sully and you can see a 3 on my drive.

      Excellent car, eighteen months into a 3 year finance deal. We’ll be buying another when we need to change it.

      Jeremy

  5. I’ve seen 4-5 in the last year locally, 1 being used by a driving school.

    When I last checked the nearest dealership was in Macclesfield.

  6. I understand all the above but frankly the numbers are so small, and increasing so slowly it just illustrates that lip service is being paid to the UK and indeed the European market in order to satisfy ‘European production and sales’ as part of the terms of sale. A measure of how seriously the UK and Europe is taken, just look at how suited the MGs are to these markets. No effective diesel until recently, poor CO2 figures, pricing very wrong, etc.

    To see how market entry with suitable products should be done, see Hyundai and Kia. Competitive products, well made, mostly in Europe, for Europe.

    Sorry, much as I want MG to succeed I don’t think there’s the will further up the food chain to do it seriously.

  7. Is the power train stuff up and fitting of bumpers, wheels etc done on MG3 at Longbridge as per the 6?

      • In fact, I’m not sure that Longbridge was ever entrusted with the skilled, complex and labour intensive task of putting the bumpers on the 6. Longbridge simply but the already completed engine/gearbox/front suspension unit into the already completed car, put the wheels on and added the exhaust. A job of minutes, involving very little labour, if you’re set up to do it.
        I must have added to the shipment costs from China hugely – having to ship a 99.9% completed car, in two bits, without having the benefit of being able to drive it on and off the ship. It’s little wonder that they dropped that particular pretence for the 3!
        There’s good news though; at least they have a substantial, otherwise virtually unused, warehouse at Longbridge, with plenty of good quality undercover parking, meaning that all of those incoming cars can be stored in the dry.

        • The vast majority of MG3’s have the same final assembly process as MG6. I would say around a quarter came in complete when the car first came out. There is also a lot more involved in the assembly process of both 6 and 3 than the avid contributor Tigger (who constantly complains about the amount of coverage the company gets on this site yet cant help help him/her self from commenting on every article.) Likes to make out.

          • Believe me, I’m getting tired of it too! But you may have a point there; why spend the time trying to convince people of the reality of the extent of UK manufacturing with these cars, when a fantasy is so much more appealing?
            Why not book yourself into a factory tour of any of the likes of JLR, Triumph Motorcycles and MINI etc and only then go and see if SIAC will allow you to do the same at Longbridge? Ask them to show you the press shop, body in white engineering, the paint shop, the engine production facilities, the marriage station and all parts of final assembly. If you are so convinced that anything worthwhile is going on inside the factory, then what do you have to lose?
            I shall leave it to you to come back and tell us all about what you found. It’s in your hands now 🙂

          • Sorry, on this computer I get logged in as “Red Merle”, but that should have been “Tigger”. I must fix that!

  8. Absolute crap, the 3 is SKD built like the 6, there was a certain amount fully China built but we built some. We build engines/transmissions up, stuff up to the car with subframes etc, fit exhaust, front end, calibrate electrics etc. Yes its not like mg rover but it keeps people in a job and there’s allot of space for expansion in the future.

  9. A new entrant into what is a very crowded marketplace and basically selling the same kind of cars, can only push the others out of the way with a very strong USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Up to now nobody seems to have realised this in MG Motor, but now light seems to have dawned.

    Essentially they have to get the cars on the roads of Great Britain and seen running around in a short time period. Price (and hopefully good reviews), are key to this. Now the prices are much lower, I think we will begin to see more and more of the cars, and also with better sales, new dealers will feel able to come on board. Once there is a real presence in the marketplace, prices can be adjusted over time so some. (or better), profits can be made both by dealer and MG Rover.

    My only problem is that the cars seem to be just another far-East “dull grey porridge” car. Worthy, but nothing exceptional.

  10. I can’t reply the the part of the thread so will have to add to it here. You made a statement that all the MG3’s came in complete from china which is untrue. No one is claiming there is a BIW or paintshop operation it’s a SKD process I have seen the final assembly process and the work that goes in to it and it’s far more than the description you have made. I would happily verify and prove what I have seen to the owners of the site if they wish. Although I believe that several of the contributors to this site are members of facebook pages where the assembly process has been witnessed on factory tours. You could also watch cars that rock with Brian Johnson on Quest (freeview channel 37 at 9pm on the 21st May) where he visited Longbridge so hopefully that will provide some good footage of the MG3 assembly process.

    SAIC deserve plenty of criticism for their incredibly slow progress and lack of ambition for the brand despite their huge resources and I certainly wouldn’t come on here to defend them. However the people that work at Longbridge are doing their best from the engineers in smtc to the people on the assembly line and I will correct anyone coming on here making false claims. ;@)

  11. A bland Daewoo type car with a different name. No reason to reject an MG, no real reason to give it preference either.

  12. How about seeing the April sales figures for JLR, MINI, Bentley or Rolls Royce? Or is celebrating success on that scale all a bit too much for AR on-line?

  13. I was shocked to see a red MG6 down my road today. It’s only the second one I’ve actually seen in the metal. They would appear to be a quite inoffensive, though pretty dull style very much like a late model Nissan Primera.

    I would suggest if enthusiasts fancy a car of this gendre, why not buy a new model Toyota Avensis. They are built in the UK and are way better quality than the SIAC products. Simply remove the Toyota badges and replace with some MG badges bought off the internet for a few pounds.

    There you go an instant MG with at least as much MG dna as the 6.

    Nige

  14. Good news! It’s an upward movement, if not a huge one.

    I’ve been saying it for a long, long time now but soon I will boost the sales by one!!

  15. Glad to hear that MG3 is SKD from the horses mouth as it were. If sales continue to rise perhaps the UK on assembly will increase with it.

    I live in the West Midlands, I see several MG3 about now and MG6 too, especially on the M42/40

  16. Is MG any less British than the last Peugeot to be made in Britain, the 206, which was mostly assembled from French parts, and was considered British by many of its buyers, helping the 206 to be a top ten regular.

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