MG shouts about growth despite being sent to Coventry
BIRMINGHAM-based has further expanded its national dealer network – only this time a little closer to home.
The Chinese-owned company has concluded a new dealer agreement with a garage in Coventry, one of the few cities that can rival the famous MG brand in terms of motor industry heritage.
Coventry MG becomes the 22nd new dealer appointed this year. The expansion is further proof of the brand’s growing popularity among UK car buyers. While new car sales in the UK are currently growing at around 10% for the year to date, MG has outpaced the market with a 556% increase to become Britain’s fastest growing brand – albeit though volumes are still small.
The new Coventry dealership, Coventry MG, is on London Road – one of three ‘motor alleys’ in the city once dubbed the UK’s ‘Motor City’. MG Coventry is part of the Coventry Motor Group and managing director, Jason Wainwright, said he was confident that MG would sell well in a city with such strong connections to the British motor industry.
“The return of the MG brand has been remarkable and, having driven both the MG6 and MG3 models, I can see why. My grandfather had lots of MGs and his passion for the brand was passed to my dad and now I’ve inherited it. MG has always been about passion and affordable fun and these latest cars have all the character and charisma of classic MG’s,” he said.
The London Road site has been associated with car sales for more than 17 years and the Coventry Motor Group have sold Mazda, Fiat and Suzuki cars.
The new outlet will fill a gap in MG’s dealer network by covering both Coventry and the surrounding Warwickshire towns of Rugby, Warwick and Leamington Spa.
“It’s tremendously exciting for us. MG is a brand that is really going places. We’ve already taken on an additional specialist salesman and this may generate more jobs in the future,” added Wainwright.
In 2014 new MG dealerships opened in Barnes, West London; Newcastle, Leicester, Harrogate, Doncaster, Northampton, Norwich, Swindon, Falmouth, Brecon, Maidstone, Wareham, Exeter, Oxford, Havant, Torbay, Oldham, Glasgow, Christchurch, Newtownabbey and Nelson.
It has been a busy time recently for the Longbridge company. It has also secured its first manufacturer title in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, wrenching the title from Honda which held it for the previous four years.
MG collected the BTCC manufacturer’s trophy and the MSA award for the winning manufacturer at the TOCA Night of Champions event. The ceremony also saw MG driver Jason Plato collect the runner-up driver’s award.
After collecting the trophies on behalf of MG, Sales and Marketing Director Guy Jones said: “Winning the manufacturer title could not have come at a better time as part of the plan to re-establish the MG brand in the UK and global markets.
“MG has returned to its rightful position at the top of British motorsport in the year that sees MG as the fastest growing brand in the UK and when MG celebrates its 90th anniversary. I want to thank everyone again who worked so hard to make this a success both on and off the track. The team here at MG, Ian Harrison and the team at Triple Eight, the drivers Jason Plato, Sam Tordoff and Tesco, Castrol and all our other sponsor partners.”
