MG in South Africa.....

....how are they getting on?

I saw a picture on Facebook yesterday of what was apparently the first MG3 customer in SA?!

When did they go on sale there? And how has the MG6 been selling?

Thanks. I know that you guys will know.

snifferdog1 wrote:....how are they getting on?

I saw a picture on Facebook yesterday of what was apparently the first MG3 customer in SA?!

When did they go on sale there? And how has the MG6 been selling?

Thanks. I know that you guys will know.

The MG3 was launched at their motor show last autumn, there is a thread on it somewhere here.

Since Longbridge seems to have a shortage of MG3s at the moment I guess SA has an even bigger shortage!

Unfortunately the official SA car sales figures don't include MGs so we have no way of knowing how well the MG6 has been selling, although given the number and quality of the dealerships I imagine it sells reasonably well. We do know about 100 MG6 hire cars from another thread.

Windy wrote:The MG3 was launched at their motor show last autumn, there is a thread on it somewhere here.  

http://www.mguk.org/t971-mg3-heading-for-south-africa

We do know about 100 MG6 hire cars from another thread.

http://www.mguk.org/t1067-100-mg6-on-year-long-test

...should be off lease now. Wonder what they thought?

Source: Motor Seller - 21 February 2014 - Page 4

"Double digit orders"?

10, then?

Podders wrote:"Double digit orders"?

10, then?

At least that many, and maybe as many as 99   

But that doesn't help to answer the question of how they are selling in SA; all we know is that they have quite a few dealers and are opening more reasonably quickly so presumably they are selling quite well... Can't have sold much more than 5,000 last year though as we know the total export figure from China, unless of course these are exports from the UK and are not counted in the China export figures   

I read from that "the new MG3 will be launched in South Africa in May".

Spec levels "Style", "Wired" and "Base"? Sound a bit like driving round the streets of Baltimore ... "3Base"?

MG have pulled out of South Africa.

MG cars and Maxus commercial vehicles will no longer be available in South Africa after local importer Combined Motor Holdings (CMH) pulled the plug on the brands.

MG is currently owned by Chinese carmaker SAIC, which resurrected the historic British brand after MG Rover declared bankruptcy in 2005. It continues to produce a full range of products in China, but they will no longer be imported to SA as CMH believes the weakness of the rand makes it unfeasible.

http://mini.iol.co.za/motoring/industry-news/mg-cars-no-longer-available-in-sa-2011954

Well. MG has officially withdrawn from Nepal and Senegal but without having sold any (significant number of?) cars there. Can South Africans drive only locally-made cars like Mercs and B*Ws? TBH if they can't afford MGs, they can't afford *anything*. (though it's more about volume, marginal cost and dealer capitalisation). I note the waspish comment "For what it's worth, we would prefer to remember the MG brand for what it was in its heyday last century." So that's worth *nothing* in terms of people who love the brand today.
The currency issue speaks for assembly of the cars where they are sold, e.g. in Longbridge. Is there any kind of peg between ASEAN countries?