Market Insight: The rise and fall of MG Motor

IN ITS current, Chinese-owned form, MG Motor has enjoyed mixed successes in the Australian market.

Arriving initially in 2013 with just a single model, the MG6 sedan – and from a solitary Sydney dealership – the brand’s inability to deliver a product capable of meeting the demands of Australian buyers saw it disappear a short time later.

The Shanghai-based brand restrategised and regrouped to return with a national presence in 2016.

From there on, the sky was seemingly the limit for MG Motor, which offered affordable models like the compact MG3 hatch and small segment ZS SUV (2016), compact GS SUV (2017), and later the strong-selling HS (2018) that proved popular with Aussie customers.

At the end of the brand’s first full year of sales, it notched up a modest 600 sales; a figure it grew to 3007 by the end of the following year (+401.2 per cent), and to 8326 twelve months later (+176.9 per cent).

MG Motor almost doubled that figure a year later to sell 15,253 units Down Under (+83.2 per cent), led chiefly by the MG3 (4017 units) and ZS (3729 units), and by 2021 had sold more than one-and-a-half times that number again, achieving a calendar-year tally of 39,025 unit sales (+156 per cent).

But MG Motors’ best sales years were still to come. Refreshed models, vastly improved quality and safety, and a solid dealership presence grew the importer’s EOY 2022 total to an impressive 49,582 units, earning it a number seven place on the Australian sales ladder and 4.6 per cent of the market overall.

That success grew yet again in 2023, topping out at 58,346 unit sales (4.8 market share points) and with another seventh place position on the sales ladder.

Then, the cracks began to appear...

By 2024 a tsunami of cheap Chinese imports entered the Australian market, just as MG Motor had introduced more sophisticated – and more expensive – product lines. Sales dropped sharply as a consequence, falling 13.3 per cent to 50,592 units by 30 December.

Yet, MG Motor held is seventh place on the sales ladder while retaining a very respectable 4.1 per cent of the overall market.

Fast-forward to the current day and it’s evident 2024 was more than just a one-off. Seemingly, those figures signalled the start of a decline for MG Motor it now seems unable, or unwilling, to arrest.

By the end of the first quarter, YOY sales were down 8.2 per cent to 11,405 slipping 11.9 per cent to 21,674 by the end of the financial year. At the end of the third quarter, MG Motor’s YOY sales continued their downward spiral, falling 9.6 per cent to 32,620 units.

Last month (November) saw the biggest decline in sales for MG Motor yet. Year-on-year sales sank 16.2 per cent to 38,848 with the month of November itself showing a decline of 47.3 per cent – and sales of just 2672 units.

Those numbers suggest the brand is in very real trouble. Clearly, its model line-up is failing to excite the interest of Australian buyers who perhaps still view the importer as a ‘cheap and cheerful’ entrant it should not take too seriously.

And while reviews of the latest MG Motor models suggest the opposite is true, it appears the brand has some work to do in reviving buyer confidence. GoAuto forecasts show MG Motor is likely to finish this financial year with just 42,380 unit sales – making it the worst sales year for the brand since 2021.

Let’s hope time, and perhaps another period of restrategising and regrouping can turn the table on MG Motors’ fortunes and set it up for a successful 2026.

MG Motor sales (2017-25)*:

*Sales figures supplied courtesy of VFACTS.