The traditional British MG brand is coming back to life under the wings of Chinese owners and has also entered the Czech market in style. Although, according to CEO Martin Králíček, it does not intend to undercut its prices, most of its models today are among the most affordable in the given class. How does the automotive newcomer take stock of the past year and what can we look forward to in the next one?
The MG brand has only been on the Czech market for a short time, but looking at the sales statistics, we can already call its return a successful one…
Undoubtedly, the MG brand is doing very well on the Czech market, we are consolidating our position among competitors, we managed to find a unique position for MG models in the market, and clients especially appreciate their attractive appearance, quality and equipment in relation to the price. The confirmation of the quality of our brand is the provision of a seven-year factory warranty on all models.
The British car manufacturer MG has a checkered history, which the local customer is sure to hear regarding. How do you perceive the rich past – is it important from a marketing point of view, or are you simply creating a brand new project?
In its original homeland, the current MG is very popular and follows on from the original history of mainly sports cars. In our area, the history of MG is mainly known to car enthusiasts, but we still work with MG’s rich history and emphasize the individual parallels between models, such as the upcoming unique Cyberster roadster and iconic MG models from the 60s and 70s. However, the history of MG is not only sports cars and cars for fun, we also follow the history of classic cars for everyday family use.
In many respects, however, we are building on a green field – we consider it a great advantage to be able to create our own line of communication with customers and build the story of the MG brand from the beginning.
Photo: Martin Palonder
The history of the MG brand is extremely impressive…
The current model portfolio is diverse. Some cars compete with Dacia, others, for example, with electric cars from Volkswagen. Who is MG’s direct competition?
Yes, that’s right, the ZS, which is conceptually in the B-SUV segment, competes with a diverse group of cars from the standard B-segment and C-segment. Thus, it attracts the attention of a wide group of potential customers. The larger HS model is more related to the segment of medium and larger SUVs, where the competition is really big and the clients are much more demanding. In general, we perceive Korean brands, Dacia, as our competition, but in some segments it might be Škoda or the aforementioned VW.
You managed to shake up the Czech market with favorable price tags, especially in the case of the electric hatchback MG4 Electric. Will the brand’s other products also be among the most affordable?
Next year we will launch the MG3 small hatchback which will offer a standard internal combustion engine and therefore a very competitive price. Its main competitor will be the domestic Škoda Fabia, Opel Corsa or Hyundai i20. I believe that the MG3 will be a very interesting alternative to established models on the market for Czech clients.
From the point of view of the price policy of the MG brand, we will always try to offer Czech customers an excellent ratio of price, equipment and quality, and from this point of view, we will always be a little better than the competition. But we will definitely not undercut ourselves on price.
Photo: Jiří Cermák
MG4 Electric stirred up the Czech car market with a great basic price of CZK 779,960.
Speaking of other products, you have a lot of new things planned for 2024. What can customers look forward to?
There will be a lot of news in 2024. It will be launched by new variants of the MG4 Electric model, namely the high-performance XPower sports version and the version with an extended range and a battery capacity of 77 kWh. The MG3 will follow, and in the middle of the year we will see a change to our popular ZS and HS SUVs, including electrified versions of the ZS EV and EHS. If I count it, there will be up to eleven novelties in the next year alone.
We definitely have something to offer private and corporate customers, which we will focus on in 2024.
The electric news sounds interesting, but at one of your press conferences there was also a statement that you intend to offer internal combustion engines as long as possible. It is true?
Yes, it continues to be the case… in fact, it is one of the priorities. The proof is the launch of the new MG3 model with an internal combustion engine, and at the same time the completely new generations of flagship models ZS and HS will have internal combustion engines. In addition to this, we will also add a pure hybrid drive for the MG3, which we have not yet offered as an MG brand.
Photo: MG
Many cars available, but also the flagship Cyberster sports car. The next few months will be extremely fruitful for the MG brand.
With new brands, customers are often concerned regarding a sparse service network. In short, they will have an authorized mechanic too far away. How are you progressing in this direction so far?
In the case of MG, there is no reason to worry, the current dealer network includes twenty sales and service locations, we have recently opened three new dealerships in Chomutov, Liberec and Hodonín, and five more will follow shortly. Our priority is currently to strengthen the regional cities and especially Prague. The philosophy is simple – our current and new customers must be satisfied with the MG brand and we must at the same time be sure that we can offer everyone 100% service in the field of sales and service.
And can you tell which cities you will be expanding to in the near future?
In the coming weeks, we will be opening new dealers in Olomouc, Kutná Hora, Říčany, Brno and Příbram.
