The historic MG brand maybe in trouble again, after missing its half yearly sales targets by almost 50%. Since its relaunch under NAC-MG-SAIC ownership, MG have struggled to gain any massive market share in the mid class sedan market against rivals such as the Camry and the Accord.
MG only sold 1900 vehicles from January to May, averaging around 400 cars per month, far from the 5000 vehicle target that SAIC initially set for the former British marque.
China Car Times could speculate that the lack of advertising for the MG7, and the subsequent lack of an automatic gearbox in the MG7 at launch time wouldnt have helped sales figures at all, although an automatic MG7 is expected in August 08. MG will boost their line up with the MG3 SW and the MG3 hatchbacks later this year, hopefully improving MG’s sales figures for 08.
Those sales figures are appaling. But then again the figures for Roewe aren’t much better, are they? Seems like the old Rover 75 really isn’t appealing to the Chinese.
Mark,
I think the Roewe 750 is a beautiful vehicle, and so do many Chinese consumers judging by the amount of 750’s I see on the road, but the majority seem to prefer the Camry, and to a lesser extent the new Accord which far outnumber the Roewe/MG brands in terms of sales and road presence!
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I hope MG can turn themselves around!
I thought the sales for the Roewe 750 in the last year are around 18,000. Hardly a success story when the Camry and Accord sell around that in a month!
No one is going to trust these products until some positive evalutions of quality and reliability are published by reputable survey organizations. But in China almost no such reputable organizations exist, as far as I can tell. And with such a small sampling (1900 units) to judge by, it’s that much harder to draw down reliable data.
The MG brand name alone is not enough for success.
Chinese culture does not seem to treat tradition and history with reverence, just look at all the old buildings that are hundreds of years old being torn down. With a car company (well Roewe and MG) trading on those traits, I think they are just not registering with the buying public. It is sad as I LOVE MG, having a 1972 B for the last 27 years. If MG Rover had sold them in the US, I would be driving a ZT now instead of a SAAB. I am just not holding my breath for MG’s survival any longer. I will just live in the past with my B.
So because Chinese are not buying much MGs, they are not treating tradition and history with reverence ?
No. In general, modern Chinese culture does not seem to treat history and tradition with reverence, as exemplified by all the demolition of old/historic buildings. Since Roewe and MG are trading on their British culture, tradition and history, I think that is not registering with the Chinese car buying public. This is different than saying the Chinese public are not treating tradition and history with reverence just because they are not buying MG’s.
It is just my opinion based on general observation. Why do you think they are not selling?
SAIC really does not know how to market cars….it is GM and VW that has the knowhow….SAIC has far to much buracracy which will hurt them in other markets like Europe and USA…they are slow to act, and react.
What do you expect from a state owned monolith? The only Chinese car company that has impressed me in its dealings with me is Lifan, and that is completely private. As the Americans say, go figure!
MG wont be doing themselves any favours here in the UK. The TF was meant to be launched in March 2007 and we’re still waiting on it!
The website is a waste of time, it tells you nothing. Also only Auto Express has mentioned that it will be released shortly but even they dont know when as MG have not officially released a Launch Date.
The more they waste time the less people will be drawn to even considering to look at one of their cars.