MG's glitzy new showroom in Sydney Australia

Two more models and big dealer growth to headline Chinese MG rollout in Australia

THE Australian model range of the resurrected MG marque will grow to accommodate a Ford Fiesta-rivalling city hatchback around the end of this year and a small crossover SUV in mid-2014.

The Chinese-owned British brand’s local distributor this week hit the reset button on its fledgling operations and, in an exclusive interview with GoAuto, revealed plans to supply up to 24 dealer sites by year’s end.

It also detailed its future model program beyond the sole current offering – the MG6 small sedan and hatch – which will include other potentially volume-selling vehicles that will be crucial to its success in Australia.

The company staged a launch event in April at its head office and sole dealership at the old Rick Damelian prestige site in Sydney. But in the interim it went quiet, with no recorded sales, no presence on price lists, and no noticeable marketing.

However, newly appointed general manager of sales and marketing for MG Motor Australia, Andrew Shaw, said this week the company was poised to start a larger-than-expected retail rollout this month.

Central to its expansion will be the addition of the spunky MG3 hatch – unveiled at parent SAIC Motor’s European design centre in Birmingham last week and due in Australia late 2013 or early 2014 – and, for MG6, broadening the model range beyond the current petrol/manual combination with a dual-clutch automatic option and potentially a 1.9-litre turbo-diesel.

Around mid-2014 – “a huge year for us”, says Mr Shaw – a compact SUV previewed by the CS concept at April’s Shanghai motor show will also appear, giving the brand a contender in one of the fastest-growing market segments, lining up against the likes of the Hyundai ix35 and Nissan Dualis.

While research and development of all MG cars is conducted in the UK, Australian-bound cars are built at SAIC’s massive complex in China, which produces 11,000 cars per day.

Addressing public perceptions over Chinese cars, Mr Shaw said: “You must keep quality in the build if you’re building that number.

“There’s going to be some kind of stigma about a car being built in China in some parts of the world but I think Australia is over that and I think we’ve got a car here being built by a very large manufacturer that doesn’t want any quality issues at all.”

The MG6 has launched with pricing in line with, or above, key rivals such as the Holden Cruze, with pricing between $23,000 and $28,000. But Mr Shaw says this is justified.

“It’s not a cheap car, it’s a quality car,” he said. “And so whilst the price is not in the cheapest end of the market, it’s because it’s not a cheap car, it’s a good quality car you can be proud of, and which will be around for a long time.”

Behind MG Motor Australia is Chinese company Longwell Motor, which won the Australian contract amid stiff competition from rival distributors. The company has experience selling Audi and Volkswagen vehicles (with which SAIC has a domestic joint venture) and Peugeot in China.

Mr Shaw said the company had commissioned research to understand the competitive Australian market.

“SAIC are a multi-billion-dollar corporation that probably make decisions on business alone,” he said.

Mr Shaw, who joined the company this month, said 300 MG6s were on the ground in Australia, and that MG Motor Australia was well underway to open its second dealership, also in Sydney, in the coming weeks. The company is also believed to be seeking someone to oversee this dealer expansion.

The network will then move through the New South Wales’ Hunter region and down to Wollongong, with scope for as many as eight sites.

A strong tie-in with Queensland-based MG owners’ clubs will see the Sunshine state become the second state to offer the brand, with Victoria hot on its heels. Dealings are believed to be underway with franchise retail groups across the eastern seaboard.

Mr Shaw said a Western Australian dealer was already keen to join, but that MG Motor had to sort out the logistical issues of moving cars to the west before it expanded across the Nullarbor.

A handful of MG6s – which we drove this week, see the link at the bottom of the page – have already been sold, all to MG car clubs. Once the network is more established, the flagship Damelian site will become a technician training centre, and will remain as the company’s head office.

Mr Shaw said MG Motor Australia would use rapid servicing as a point of difference, and would instigate used-car buy-backs to help keep company resale rates high.

Mr Shaw has also continuing to work closely with MG owners’ clubs, including lending them cars, and would slowly develop advertising campaigns once sales ramped up and the company was in a better cashflow position.

Morris Motors wrote:I do wish the Australians would stop using the word 'spunky'..

Adj.
1. spunky - showing courage; "the champion is faced with a feisty challenger" feisty, plucky

spirited - displaying animation, vigor, or liveliness

2. spunky - willing to face danger             
game, gritty, mettlesome, spirited, gamey, gamy

brave, courageous - possessing or displaying courage; able to face and deal with danger or fear without flinching.out of enemy-held territory"

n.

1. Informal courage or spirit

2. Brit a slang word for semen

3. touchwood or tinder, esp originally made from various spongy types of fungus

4. Austral and NZ informal a person, esp male, who is attractive to the opposite sex


[C16 (in the sense: a spark): from Scottish Gaelic spong tinder, sponge, from Latin spongia sponge]

But in the interim it went quiet, with no recorded sales, no presence on price lists, and no noticeable marketing.

MG’s automatic affected by VW issues

Chinese-owned Brit brand says it stopped making its automatic transmission for fear of having owners experience Volkswagen-like problems.


MG Australia will wait for an automatic transmission over fears the gearbox currrently available could experience similar failures to those seen in a number of Volkswagen Group vehicles.

MG’s parent company Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) has joint venture partnerships with a number of big name automotive manufacturers, including General Motors and Volkswagen, and produces cars in conjunction with both of those brands.

MG Australia’s newly appointed local head of sales and marketing, Andrew Shaw, told Drive in an exclusive interview that production of the brand’s five-speed automatic gearbox has been ceased over reliability concerns.

“It’s not an identical ‘box,” Shaw says. “But they do share similar technology.

“I guess the MG6 sedan and hatch variant that we are with is one that has been associated with issues, and we simply don’t want to be associated with issues,” Shaw says.

“So we’ve said: ‘please, let’s not have that automatic gearbox problem – let’s not bring it to the country. Even though that means we’re not going to sell as many vehicles, we’re also not going to have anybody being let down'.

“And we’re not going to end up with a name that will be tarnished.”

But despite the somewhat proactive move of ruling out the gearbox, Shaw admits he has not seen “one single report” of a problem with the MG gearbox, yet admits that doesn’t mean there have not been any issues.

Shaw says the lack of an automatic transmission is an obvious problem for the brand. However, he says a newly developed transmission is just a few months away from being rolled out internationally.

“Everyone wants an automatic,” he says. “We can’t wait for the automatic to turn up, so we’re just going to have to go with what we’ve got, knowing that we’re only going to be able to make happy perhaps 20 or 30 per cent of the marketplace.

“There’s a new one coming; it is dual-clutch and it has paddle shifters, and it will be here in 2014,” he says. “The six-speed dual clutch is completing design engineering and 1,000,000 kilometres of testing.

“Clearly everyone’s saying we’ve got to have an automatic. We know we’ve got to have one.  But we just weren’t going to bring one that we know would give us problems.

"We’ll just have to do the tough yards for a few months until the automatic version arrives and balances that out.”

MG will re-enter the Australian market officially next month (August). The re-born Brit brand, now wholly owned by Chinese giant, SAIC, will initially offer a single model for sale and expects to appoint dealers in all eastern state capital in the coming weeks.

The first car to go on sale Down Under is the MG 6. Available in liftback (GT) and sedan (Magnette) body styles, the MG 6 is powered by a turbocharged 1.8-litre petrol engine matched exclusively to a five-speed manual gearbox. Three equipment grades are available.

The entry-level S is priced at $22,999 (plus on-road costs), with $27,999 (plus on-road costs) buying the top of the range TSE.

MG’s newest model, the MG 3 Light segment hatch, and an as yet unnamed compact SUV model will join the MG 6 in local showrooms in 2014. An auto (dual clutch) equipped MG 6 is also on early 2014 timeline. Meantime, MG’s all-new MG 5 medium car is still on SAIC’s drawing board and is not expected to debut until 2015 at the earliest.

The new MG models are unrelated to the ill-fated re-emergence of the brand in the early 2000s. In deference to the brand’s history, however, SAIC’s MG design and engineering resources are housed at the former home of MG, Longbridge in the British Midlands.

The Australian MG importer is ground-up, all-new operation. MG Motor Australia, has purchased one of the former Rick Damelian sites on Parramatta Road in the Sydney suburb of Petersham. The new company is founded and funded by Chinese automotive interests but is a private importer distributor not connected to SAIC.

MG Motor Australia is headed by automotive enthusiast, Andrew Shaw. According to Shaw, the operation has already invested in excess of $12M in its set up. It expects to commence retail operations at its Petersham within weeks.

Also expected to be confirmed in coming weeks is MG’s first tranche of dealers.

“We’ve very close now to rubber-stamping [confirming] the first [dealers],” Shaw told motoring.com.au.

“We’re primarily looking for: New South Wales and Sydney-based; Victoria, Melbourne-based; and Queensland, Brisbane-based [dealers].... In the next 12 months, I would see potentially no more than 20 dealers,” he said.

“We don’t want to have too many [dealers]. We want each to have enough of a patch and enough of the [retail new car] sales that we want to see happen -- which are probably only going to be something in the region of 400-500 in the next six months,” he said.

Shaw believes the new MGs will attract a wide range of buyers. He says existing MG fans and aficionados will make up only a fraction of buyers. Initially, the brand will seek to appeal to buyers looking to step outside the square, he says.

“So they’re [SAIC] looking at MG as: we, we want to produce a quality product. So that’s where we need to get as many people behind the wheel, as fast as we can -- so that they realise what true value there is in the car that they’re buying.

“It’s not a cheap Chinese car, but it’s a very affordable car that happens to be made by a Chinese owner -- one that was designed and engineered by a team of 300-plus designers and engineers out at Longbridge; the original home of MG in the UK,” Shaw opined.

MG Motor’s UK website states the Longbridge operation is “responsible for developing the initial concepts for all new MG vehicles.

“The department also ensures that each model meets the latest in European legislation and customer requirements... Under the leadership of David Lindley, the engineers here work on all MG products for Europe, and support product development in China and other world markets.”

UK market MG 6s undergo “final assembly” at the Longbridge facility. Australian market cars are fully assembled at MG/SAIC’s production facility in Lingang, China.

Shaw says MG’s UK development team is already in regular touch with the fledgling Aussie operation.

“I interact with them on a weekly basis… So [they are interested in] nuances about the car… You want something special for Australia? What do we need? Is there anything that would be required here? [Also] Marketing promotions and ideas that they’ve had that have worked,” Shaw stated.

SAIC has built around 300,000 MGs in the last two years. The brand currently exports to over 20 markets including Latin America and the Middle East. In the UK the company sells a number of MG 6 variants including one that pays homage to the company’s entry into the British Touring car Championship.

MG’s MG 3 hatch goes on sale in the UK in September.

Shaw says MG’s UK development team is already in regular touch with the fledgling Aussie operation.

“I interact with them on a weekly basis…

“I interact with them on a weekly basis… So [they are interested in] nuances about the car… You want something special for Australia? What do we need? Is there anything that would be required here? [Also] Marketing promotions and ideas that they’ve had that have worked,” Shaw stated.

Morris Motors wrote:So MG Motor UK are a part owner of another plant? I'd love to see a corporate structure plan for this lot!

Citroen eclipses MG with top safety rating

A Holden SUV along with hatchbacks from Citroen and Peugeot have each secured a maximum 5-star ANCAP safety rating.
However, it was just a 4-star Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP) safety rating for the medium-sized MG-6, which was released in New Zealand last year.

Poor crash test results for upper leg protection in a frontal offset test along with unstable airbag deployment contributed to a lower score. This was combined with marginal chest protection in the side impact test.

AA motoring advice manager Andrew Bayliss says while MG is owned by Chinese company SAIC, the MG-6 was designed in the United Kingdom primarily for a European market.

“It’s disappointing the manufacturer has dropped the ball on a few features that could have seen the MG-6 become a 5-star contender,” Mr Bayliss says.

All four cars tested have dual frontal, side chest and side curtain airbags as standard along with ABS brakes, electronic brake distribution (EDB) and electronic stability control (ESC).

In addition, each of the cars provides advanced seat belt reminders fitted to both front seats.

Mr Bayliss says in contrast to the MG-6, the medium-sized Citroen DS5 received the highest safety score – although both the Citroen and the MG failed to shine with comparatively low pedestrian protection scores.

Better pedestrian protection is offered by the smaller Peugeot 208 and the Holden Trax compact SUV and both performed well in their crash tests.

“Manufacturers know their customers are more safety conscious and aware of what technology is available to them and strive to deliver,” Mr Bayliss says.

“Earning a 5-star ANCAP safety rating is now normal and should be one of the expectations consumers have when they consider their vehicle choices.”

NZ Transport Agency group manager Access and Use Celia Patrick says a vehicle’s safety features are key to protecting occupants in the event of a crash.

“Higher consumer demand will persuade manufacturers to raise their game. I encourage consumers to ask about the safety features when they’re looking to buy a car and to buy the safest car they can afford,” Ms Patrick says.

ANCAP is supported by all Australian and New Zealand motoring clubs, the Australian Government, the New Zealand Government, Australian state and territory governments, the Victorian Transport Accident Commission, NRMA Insurance and the FIA Foundation.

The full list of ANCAP’s vehicle safety ratings, other vehicle safety information and the specifications of the rated vehicles are available online at aa.co.nz or rightcar.govt.nz.

snifferdog1 wrote:So 4*'s is bad?!

It would be enough for me.

The Aussies seem to hate the MG6 anyway. Miserable bunch of b******.

snifferdog1 wrote:So 4*'s is bad?!

HONDA’S all-new Accord has received a bruising in the latest round of ANCAP crash tests, scoring only four stars out of a possible five despite a long list of optional active safety equipment.

Honda’s large-car contender becomes the second passenger car in as many weeks, after the MG6, to fail to achieve the increasingly common five-star maximum rating.

...

MG (or Morris Garages) re-emerged on the Australian market earlier this year under the ownership of one of China's largest car makers, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. Despite one Sydney dealership and a stockpile of 400 new cars, the local operation still officially hasn't gone "on sale", said spokesman Andrew Shaw.

The brand is being spearheaded by the manual-only MG6 small car - its only variant - with a plan to introduce several new models over the next 18 months.

patpending wrote:400 cars would be three years' supply in the UK!

snifferdog1 wrote:Have they sold any yet?

MG Australia goes back to the drawing board

 


Chinese MG venture still floundering 12 months after Australian arrival.



MG has only managed to sell 50 vehicles in 12 months.

MG has flagged big changes to its Australian operations following an almost non-existent opening 12 months of local trading, believed to stem from setbacks in gaining compliance to sell cars.

The ambitious Chinese brand says it sold “fewer than 50 vehicles” since being introduced to the Australian market last year, something difficult to ascertain as MG (along with some other smaller brands) does not volunteer its sales figures to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. MG (or Morris Garages) re-emerged on the local market under the ownership of one of China's largest car makers, SAIC Motor Corporation Limited.

Fairfax Media has been told by industry sources that MG has been prevented in selling its lone offering, the MG6 sedan, because it cannot meet Australian compliance on three separate issues.

Official documents show the car maker was given conditional approval to import the MG6 in 2012. However, it's understood additional mandatory checks on the cars found issues that prevented their sale.

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“SAIC Motor Corporation Ltd received approval for the MG6 variants in 2012, with some amendments to the approval made subsequently as per standard certification processes,” a spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development said.

“Any queries relating to the supply of vehicles or vehicle specifications should be referred to the manufacturer or distributor.”

MG Australia spokesman Andrew Shaw vehemently denied the MG6 had shortfalls in local compliance, and instead put the lack of sales down to the model’s manual-only transmission and troubles around local franchising.

“Because we’re backed by the Chinese government and we’re not a private company, we are very aware of all of our responsibilities and we are making sure that we are keeping up with compliance all the time … We’re certainly keeping on top of all of it,” he said.

Asked specifically whether the compliance issues had prevented MG from selling vehicles in Australia, Shaw said: “No, not at all. We’re on top of all of our compliance; we don’t have a single problem with compliance in Australia at this very moment.

“I’m not going to be specific, because there’s no need to be, all I’m saying is I think you wouldn’t be able to find us being uncompliant. It’s not been an issue really.”
Millions of dollars worth or MG stock - upwards of 300 cars - is believed to be currently laying dormant in locations including the brand’s lone Australian dealership, a former Rick Damelian site on Sydney’s Parramatta Road.

Shaw said none of those cars would be distributed to new dealers to sell to customers.

“Those cars in Petersham are only going to be used for service vehicles and demonstrators, we’re going to insist that dealers are only buying MY14 [model year 2014] stock to sell to their customers,” he said.

“It’s our problem to get rid of the remaining cars. All I can tell you is we are telling dealers we would like them to order MY14 cars to sell.”

To curtail the problem, Shaw said the local arm is preparing to take order of new vehicles in the coming weeks.

Among the new models to be introduced this year will be an automatic version of the MG6 as well as the diminutive MG3 city car, expected to be priced from about $16,000, plus on-road and dealer costs.

“What MG have done is they’ve now sub-contracted all of the right-hand drive manufacturing from the middle of this year to a manufacturer in Thailand,” he explained. “That will speed everything up tremendously, the current vehicles are built in Shanghai.”

Shaw said plans were afoot to expand MG’s dealership network to more than 10 different sites.

Despite the setbacks, Shaw insisted MG was in Australia for the long haul.
“We’ve got owners and a manufacturer with deep pockets and a lot of patience, and they know they need to bring in more products in line with what Australians want to drive,” he said.

“We’re really waiting for that second car to arrive so that we have more than the one-car offering, which has obviously been difficult to sell.”

“We’re really waiting for that second car to arrive"