January 2012 UK Registrations

Just noticed that according to SMMT MG regitered 107 cars in January! Thats 100 more than November 2011 and when the 100 to Avis are deducted from the December figures, the highest number for MG in the UK since the relaunch. Have they finally turned the corner?

It's a huge difference from November - 100 cars a month is not enough to keep a dealer network going anyway, but I wonder if Avis took more (not through dealers) (they committed to 500 IIRC)

I expect you are right and they have put another 100 with Avis, but after the great nashing of teeth on various enthusiast websites following the dismal figures in October and November, I am surprised nobody is commenting on the 107 in January. As you say, the dealers are having a rough time and it would be great if things were starting to get better for them. I really worry that our new dealer in Yeovil will hang on long enough for me to buy an MG3 from him!

MG must be making them almost flat out to manage 100 per month, I guess Avis are recieving half their 500 order over Xmas when sales to the public are normally low, expect another 50+ for February.

I've just read that Shanghai General Motors have managed to make record sales in January of 7,497 . . . in a single day

Definitely encouraging but I agree with Dorset Rocket - how long can the dealers hold on for the new models and the MG6 diesel? Had a great experience at Morrisons Garage in Stirling on Sunday - the salesman was knowledgeable & enthusiastic about the brand. If MG doesn't manage to get a dealer organised in the Glasgow area in time for October then I'll definitely do the 60 mile round trip and purchase from them.

I've been to Morrisons a few times (predominately a SEAT and FIAT dealership) and in the past MG models have been tucked away in a wee side part of the main showroom, but on Sunday, MG had prominence with a GT and a Magnette in the main showroom, and another couple outside the showroom entrance.

Little snippets of info I gleaned:

- MG6 diesel will be launched in October
- MG3 also possible from October but could be the following month - "This will be the volume seller"
- MG5 early 2013

Apparently, once the MG5 arrives, the MG6 will be price positioned a tad further up the chain, but not by much.

By the way, really like this site - makes a change to have a place where people who are genuinely enthusiastic about MG's new developments can post & discuss.

Regards

Ant

preetoo wrote:Definitely encouraging but I agree with Dorset Rocket - how long can the dealers hold on for the new models and the MG6 diesel?

I suspect that the first event will be the start of the BTCC, the first couple of races will give them more advertising then the total since 2005 and as long as they don't keep breaking down there should be far more people taking an interest in them. Probably still take a few months to actually turn into sales though and they could do with a powerful engine in the range as well as the diesel for that market.

I agree that a strategy of sorts is beginning to emerge and the BTTC and its marketing spin offs should keep dealers interested and attract new ones. The main thing is that with the BTCC, Avis, the new finance packages, the diesel and then the MG3 all happening this year, they do seem to be showing commitment to develop the brand and build sales.
Something that in the dark days of Autumn 2011 we were all starting to question.

Could still do with some nice product placement on the telly though ..pity Downton Abbey has still only got to the 1920's..

Dorset Rocket wrote:I agree that a strategy of sorts is beginning to emerge and the BTTC and its marketing spin offs should keep dealers interested and attract new ones. The main thing is that with the BTCC, Avis, the new finance packages, the diesel and then the MG3 all happening this year, they do seem to be showing commitment to develop the brand and build sales.
Something that in the dark days of Autumn 2011 we were all starting to question.

Could still do with some nice product placement on the telly though ..pity Downton Abbey has still only got to the 1920's..

do you mean the dark days of Summer 2005?

the recent doubters were mainly concentrated in one place and suddenly had an actual new MG to focus on rather than the cheap, quality, low-CO2, high-performance, front-engined, mid-engined, FWD, RWD, two-seater convertible tin-top saloon everyone knew they were going to get.

I think it's a chicken and egg thing - a single model in two variants meaning marketing has to be limited, but sales cannot be good without marketing.

The alternative would presumably have been to launch nothing, which would certainly have been worse.

As a BL, ARG, Rover, MG etc. watcher since the late 1970's I've seen a fair few 'dark days' and when the doomsayers on other online sites started to doubt the commitment of MG a couple of months ago I just though 'Oh no, not again', despite trying hard not to agree with them.

It is all about being able to see a strategy and a robust long term plan. As you say, should they have waited till they had a full range to launch? - No - if only to start to build the brand, the dealer network and trial the logistics of shipping cars in containers from China for final assembly at Longbridge, they needed to get the MG6 into the UK market to start the relaunch. Those of us watching from the sidelines need to keep calm and watch the strategy unfold with interest and hopefully some well justified excitement.

All that said the MG3 is clearly now key to volume sales. At present I am only aware of a 1.5 turbo petrol and the 'standard' plus the 'SW' body styles - one not very efficent petrol engine at launch sounds a bit to familiar - do we know yet if they will have a deisel ready at the UK launch date?

Dorset Rocket wrote:It is all about being able to see a strategy and a robust long term plan. As you say, should they have waited till they had a full range to launch? - No - if only to start to build the brand, the dealer network and trial the logistics of shipping cars in containers from China for final assembly at Longbridge, they needed to get the MG6 into the UK market to start the relaunch. Those of us watching from the sidelines need to keep calm and watch the strategy unfold with interest and hopefully some well justified excitement.

Seems reasonable to me.

Dorset Rocket wrote:All that said the MG3 is clearly now key to volume sales. At present I am only aware of a 1.5 turbo petrol and the 'standard' plus the 'SW' body styles - one not very efficent petrol engine at launch sounds a bit to familiar - do we know yet if they will have a deisel ready at the UK launch date?

In China the MG3 currently has 1.3 and 1.5 nasp options, there has been talk of a small efficient diesel for it but I have no idea about timescale for that.

By the time the small engines reach the UK I would expect them to have very efficient direct injection versions but we will have to wait and see.