MG в Беларуси - MG in Belarus

The MG website for Belarus has gone live: http://mgcars.by/

Prices for the MG range are:
MG 750 from 24900$ to 28900$
MG 550 from 17900$ to 24350$
MG TF from 24900$

Translated from the website:

News: The new MG is already in Belarus!

Some brands are very old and quickly forgotten. Other escape, but remain in our memory, thanks to their strong history. And some are returned to our lives, as old friends, as has the legendary British mark MG.

Most people remember MG as the most popular British sports cars. Many believe that the MG TF Roadster is more likely to arouse an emotion and pleasure of driving for their drivers than any other sports cars brand in Britain.

MG cars are represented today in Belarus by the company Автостиль, official dealer of British brand, offers three models, the new sedan MG 550 created on a new concept of five digital D5 Digi Next. The respectable MG 750 and the mid-engined roadster MG TF.

Автостиль = Autostyle?

I'm reminded of the song

"I believe pigs and even DC10s can fly
I believe the devil is ready to repent
But I can't believe Ronald Reagan is President"...

Belarus??? Where on earth did THAT come from?

patpending wrote:Автостиль = Autostyle?

I'm reminded of the song

"I believe pigs and even DC10s can fly
I believe the devil is ready to repent
But I can't believe Ronald Reagan is President"...

Belarus??? Where on earth did THAT come from?

Appears to be from "Not the Nine O'Clock News" - I had to look that one up!
And you appear to have mixed the lines of the last two verses into one

"I believe that Colonel Sanders can fry
and that pigs and even DC-10s can fly
I'm prepared to believe that things go better with Coke
And that the Ayatollah tells a darned good knock knock joke

I believe some folk can hear what Bugs Bunny's sayin’,
And that Salt Lake City's a real nice place to stay in.
I believe that JR really loves Sue Ellen
I believe that things sound better when you're yellin'
And I believe that the Devil is ready to repent
But I can't believe Ronald Reagan is President.
"


It may be a little difficult to find sales figures for Belarus when they start...

Thanks for the quote, Windy.

I was thinking if you had set me off at the time of the original Chinese News Poll to invent two random countries that would see the return of MG, I could hardly have been "randomer" than Chile* and Belarus. South America and ex-USSR is a great impossible idea - I think I might have said Paraguay and Tadjikistan.

* I hadn't realised the historical significance of Chile - but Belarus???

Like when Reginald Perrin drew a handbag-shaped test zone for Sunshine Desserts' mango and lychee ripple in Schleswig-Holstein, including bits of sea.

But real life(!)

I wonder what the connection is? Do the importers travel round China looking for deals and both S.K. Berger and Autostyle play golf/go to the sauna/drink Tsing Tao with SAIC exporters? If so, we could see who else engages in the activity and identify some more countries...Albanians like a deal, Kenya is up-and-coming (but RHD) and what about North Korea in the event of reunification?

- actually, we know the Chinese are making all sorts of investment-for-raw-materials deals with African countries...but South Africa and Nigeria are RHD too...

At this rate, there will be letters printed in MG Enthusiast written by my fictional self based on real-life experience!

MG 350 review in Belarus:
http://www.abw.by/number/see_note/12446/

In my opinion Roewe 350 was just an ugly car but when i saw the first photo i changed my opinion. It looks really nice, and it's bigger then i thought!
Journalist didn't like only one thing - price.

Mirtininkas wrote:MG 350 review in Belarus:
http://www.abw.by/number/see_note/12446/

In my opinion Roewe 350 was just an ugly car but when i saw the first photo i changed my opinion. It looks really nice, and it's bigger then i thought!
Journalist didn't like only one thing - price.

How he got it to do 0-60 in 9 seconds in those conditions I fail to understand:



But he obviously enjoyed it

Just read their MG6 review: http://www.abw.by/news/142746/
and MG550 review: http://www.abw.by/number/see_note/5519/

Both entertaining reads

patpending wrote:what about North Korea in the event of reunification?

I was inventing the stupidest place I could think of - but there is an importer now!

...but South Africa and Nigeria are RHD too...

Nigeria has been LHD since about 1972 as I now know.

On May dealer introduced two new models in Belarus - MG3 Xcross and MG5:
http://auto.onliner.by/2013/05/17/mg-10
Engine 1.5, 106hp, Euro IV.

At this moment dealer has:
1 Xcross
3 MG350 (7 on the way to Belarus)
1 MG5 (1 on the way)
1 used MG6 GT
1 MG6 sedan.

Nice interior in that XRoss



Good to see it on sale outside China too.

I see new positive things in Belarus!

There are some activities in their website comparing with my post in 1st of July:
Xcross - had 1 new. Now - 1 new and 15 on the way.
MG350 - had 3 new, 7 on the way. Now - 6 new and 6 on the way.
Other models numbers unchanged. All new cars will arrive in September. By the way, they have 4 MG350 in Vilnius, Lithuania... Will write an email, maybe it's possible to see 350 in flesh??

Mirtininkas wrote:By the way, they have 4 MG350 in Vilnius, Lithuania... Will write an email, maybe it's possible to see 350 in flesh??

 Who have? IIRC Avtostil Minsk are a company based in Latvia*. Surely a 350 cannot be registered in one EU country without the others... though I read here that a handful (four 750s?) were registered in Poland when imports began to Belarus...

*EDIT the importer Greenback is actually Lithuanian, my mistake.

Haven't heard about MG750 in Poland... Is there any info?

http://mgcars.by/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=137&Itemid=430
В ПУТИ (Вильнюс) - on the way (Vilnius).

Just got an answer. Cars are in Vilnius, in custom's warehouse. Probably they came here from seaport Klaipeda, as Belarus doesn't have a coastline. They gave me contacts of person who can show me these cars, but i don't wan't to bother as it's in protected area.

Patpending - it's possible to buy MG6 from Belarus dealer because it has EURO V standart. Other MG cars have only EURO IV.

Mirtininkas wrote:Haven't heard about MG750 in Poland... Is there any info?

http://mgcars.by/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=137&Itemid=430
В ПУТИ (Вильнюс) - on the way (Vilnius).

 from here in 2011 - I have never seen anything else:

http://www.mguk.org/t207-mg-heading-to-poland

Mirtininkas wrote:Just got an answer. Cars are in Vilnius, in custom's warehouse. Probably they came here from seaport Klaipeda, as Belarus doesn't have a coastline. They gave me contacts of person who can show me these cars, but i don't wan't to bother as it's in protected area.

Patpending - it's possible to buy MG6 from Belarus dealer because it has EURO V standart. Other MG cars have only EURO IV.

Do you mean you could import a car and register it in Lithuania so long as it was at least Euro V?

Lithuania is where the importer is based (my mistake). From Belarus you must go through Lithuania, Poland, Russia or the Ukraine to get to the sea.

Klaipeda, otherwise known as Memel, has the reputation of being a lovely seaside town. Isn't there a hydrofoil boat from there to Vilnius?

Greenbacks Baltic JSC
Contact： Leonid Rozum
Telephone： +370 655 944 78
Fax： +370 527 319 57
Email：  l.rozum@greenbacks.lt
Web site： http://www.mgmotor.by
Address： 1 V. Gerulaicio Str., office 1, Vilnius, Lithuania, LT-08200

http://www.saicmg.com/english/guide/dealerquery.php#bom

Oh i see, but i didn't found any info about used Roewe and MG in Poland... their forum is empty.

For Belarus Lithuania is the easiest and shortest route from the sea. But everything depends from their president Lukashenko and his mood that day.

Who can prevent me from registering new MG in Lithuania? I think it's only barrier of Euro standart for a new car (or maybe not?), and the other three factors - money, 10% customs tax and 21% VAT

I haven't heard about hydrofoil boat (called Raketa) at least 2 years, but they had a route from Kaunas to Nida in 2010 and 2011.
http://www.15min.lt/images/photos/616179/big/1277983533raketa.jpg

Mirtininkas wrote:I haven't heard about hydrofoil boat (called Raketa) at least 2 years, but they had a route from Kaunas to Nida in 2010 and 2011.
http://www.15min.lt/images/photos/616179/big/1277983533raketa.jpg

Hydrofoils seem to have disappeared, I guess they were unreliable?

Around the UK they have been replaced by seacat. A seacat at full speed is a remarkable sight when you realise that they can have a 200 cars onboard:

Windy, our "Raketa" (Rocket in english) was suitable only for tourism in the rivers, not for seas as a transport. I don't think it was unreliable, probably too small profit.

Mirtininkas wrote:Windy, our "Raketa" (Rocket in english) was suitable only for tourism in the rivers, not for seas as a transport. I don't think it was unreliable, probably too small profit.

Ahh, for tourism, returning to a local river this year we have:



http://www.paddlesteamerkc.co.uk

Here's a video of the jetfoil which used to travel from Belgium to Dover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VeLinx126k

It seems that sales also moving fast forward in Belarus. ""11 MG3 Xross left"


Xross:
1st of July - 1 Xross in stock.
11th of August - 1 Xross in stock and 15 on the way.
9th of October - 0 in stock and 17 Xross on the way and 6 already reserved! I wonder if these cars are same from August?  
MG350:
1st of July - 3 in stock and 7 on the way.
11th of August - 6 in stock and 6 on the way.
9th of October - 2 in stock and 4 on the way.

Thanks Windy for pointing me to this XROSS test - I was reading the Russian and going "TESS-T dry-EEVE?

http://auto.onliner.by/2013/10/11/mg-12/

"MG3 - worth $450 a month?" Not sure what the $ are but if the downpayment is $5m it's not a cheap car

patpending wrote:"MG3 - worth $450 a month?" Not sure what the $ are but if the downpayment is $5m it's not a cheap car

That's just a translator mistake. 450$ per month with first deposit of 5.000$, not million Currency - US dollars.

I still don't like these - the side profile is wrong - too tall; wheels too small etc. Plus the cladding is far less 'convincing' than on the original Streetwise etc.

Mirtininkas wrote:

patpending wrote:"MG3 - worth $450 a month?" Not sure what the $ are but if the downpayment is $5m it's not a cheap car

That's just a translator mistake. 450$ per month with first deposit of 5.000$, not million :)Currency - US dollars.

Still wrong, for the UK that should be written "$5,000" - we use ',' instead of '.', with a '.' it reads just "$5", it is the French that use ','.

noted Are there any plans in UK with Xross?

Mirtininkas wrote:Are there any plans in UK with Xross?

I think the last answer to that question was that they want to see how well the MG3 sells first.

The Streetwise was quite popular though so I think they should, a lot of people prefer to sit a bit higher, especially the elderly who have difficulty getting out of a low seat.

Windy wrote:

Mirtininkas wrote:Are there any plans in UK with Xross?

I think the last answer to that question was that they want to see how well the MG3 sells first.

The Streetwise was quite popular though so I think they should, a lot of people prefer to sit a bit higher, especially the elderly who have difficulty getting out of a low seat.

Agreed, of three definite MG3 sales this week, two are to more mature ladies... a huge market for people with the money who like a bit of style, low running costs, and value for money...

Any idea how well MG have been selling in Belarus?! I havent seen any sales figures.