MG announces all new Flagship dealership opens in Piccadilly, London.

MG has announced it will open a prestigious multi-million pound flagship dealership in the heart of London’s Piccadilly. The exclusive showroom, next to The Royal Academy of Arts and directly opposite Fortnum & Mason, is one of the most sought-after retail locations in the world.

MG’s showroom will become a centre of excellence for the iconic 91-year-old brand which is Britain’s fastest growing marque. This is the latest and most significant move in a major expansion of new MG dealerships across the country. In the past 12 months MG has opened 26 new dealerships in Britain, and has declared its intention to continue growing by targeting a further 30 open points.

London was a key goal in MG’s ambitious plans to substantially build its dealer network. It was considered vital for MG to have a flagship presence in the UK’s capital city, right at the heart of the growing UK economy. This is a statement of intent that MG is back in Britain and playing a significant role in the thriving British automotive sector.

MG’s Piccadilly showroom will become one of the most important centres of excellence for MG, a brand that now sells in more than 40 countries globally and is instantly recognisable as an icon of great British design and engineering.       

The six-car showroom will be housed in a seven-storey Georgian-fronted building at 47/48 Piccadilly and will incorporate a state of the art showroom with interactive media centre so customers can configure their own car.

As part of the investment, totalling almost £30-million, the building has been sympathetically refurbished and substantially upgraded to accommodate the MG showroom.

MG will run the flagship showroom on the ground floor with offices in the basement. Above are six floors of executive offices. The MG showroom will open in a few weeks time.

The whole of the historic building, just 400yds from Piccadilly Circus is much closer to the landmark statue of Eros than Audi’s flagship showroom. It will give MG an extremely prestigious display showroom in one of the busiest cities in the world.  

Matthew Cheyne Head of Marketing, said: “This really is a fabulous central London location where the City of Westminster and the West End theatreland merge. It shows that MG is really back and is becoming a major force again in the British automotive industry.

“This address is, without a doubt, one of the most sought-after international locations and we can’t wait to do business from there.”

Cheyne said that the choice of the prime address in the heart of the nation’s capital was highly significant. He added: “If anyone had any doubts about MG’s commitment to the future, this is a hugely positive statement that MG is back and here to stay.

“This is a very significant investment by MG and we are immensely proud of this fantastic showroom. You simply could not get a more prestigious location in Britain.”   

New dealership opens on April 1st for MG, and thats No Joke.

It’s no joke – MG’s latest dealer will start trading on April 1 as the brand’s surge in sales continues. Normandy Garage, in Guildford, will become the 26^th new dealer to be appointed within the last 12 months as sales of modern MG’s hit new record levels.

Last year MG was the fastest growing automotive brand in Britain and results for the first quarter of 2015, due out soon, are expected to show an even further acceleration of sales.

Ian Richards, Managing Director of Normandy Garage, said: “It’s thrilling to be involved in this fantastic resurgence of such a great brand. We don’t want to waste any time in selling the cars, that’s why we want to go live on April 1 just as soon as our cars arrive - anyone interested in a brilliant new MG would be a fool to miss out!

“We will have 11 new MG3s at launch and in fact we’ve had a lot of interest from customers because our MG signage is already in place. This is a brand that is going places.”

Normandy Garage is a family-owned business which was started by Ian’s father, John Richards in 1966. The modern, six-car showroom, backed by four workshop bays, is in Guildford Road, Normandy; mid-way between Guildford town centre and Aldershot. It has a staff of 18 people.

Ian said: “Having driven the new MGs and been to see the operation at Longbridge, I’m really positive about MG. In fact, I’m already looking ahead and thinking of expanding our showroom to cope with the new MGs products that are coming along.

“It’s too easy to under-estimate just how good the new MGs are. You only have to drive them to understand what brilliant dynamics they have and you just have to look at the price and high standard specifications to see why MGs make so much sense to so many people.” 

Latest MG dealership beats targets and opens new state of the art showroom.

MG has been celebrating at fantastic showrooms on one of Europe’s largest automotive retail parks. But 10 months ago a massive fire looked as if Hendy MG, on the vast Marsh Barton automotive retail park in Exeter, might have destroyed all hope of the dealership opening.

For months Hendy MG worked from a set of Portacabins while a huge £500,000 refurbishment of the fire ravaged showrooms got under way. Now the plush showrooms are a flagship on the Marsh Barton complex, where almost every major automotive brand has outlets.

Despite the problems caused by the showroom blaze, Hendy MG has met its quarter one target for 2015 and decided it was time to celebrate. At the official opening of the totally refurbished building, MG Motor UK’s Managing Director, William Wang, praised everyone at Hendy MG for their efforts to carry on selling cars.

He cut the official opening ribbon watched by the Hendy Group’s Managing Director, Paul Hendy. 

Hendy MG is part of the huge Hendy Group, one of Britain’s largest automotive companies. It has a turnover of £261-million and is ranked at 44 in the Motor Trader top 200 list of automotive groups.

The Hendy Group is a family-owned company which can trace its history back to a cycle repair shop in 1859. Today the group has 20 retail sites in the south of England and employs more than 590 people.

Craig Winton, Dealer Principal at Hendy MG, said: “It was heartbreaking to see the devastation the fire caused and it was really hard work trying to run the new business from the Portacabins.

“But as soon as the MG totem went up we had customers coming in. The brand has a terrific following in Exeter and we exceeded our initial targets. So that’s given us plenty to build on.” 

Paul Hendy, the Hendy Group’s Managing Director, said: “We are delighted to be representing the iconic MG brand. We have every confidence in the new MG brand and the MG6 and MG3 products – which are simply superb.”

MG 2 - MG just keeps on winning trophies, well, its a non motoring award, but a win is a win, isn't it ?

MG just keeps on winning trophies – the latest is a prestigious apprenticeship award, which has another ‘gold gong’ behind it! A project that involved young people getting a behind the scenes look at how MG designers work, resulted in MG Motor winning a highly-sought after South and City College InBusiness Student Experience Award.

The InBusiness Network was launched by South and City College Birmingham three years ago and Sir Doug Ellis is Honorary President. It helps local businesses network and provides student with excellent opportunities to get involved in real business projects.

Two young students from the South and City College in Birmingham went to the London Design Festival in December and saw MG scoop the Gold Award in the Product Design Concept with a stunning MG3 Design Concept car.

The winning car was created by Louise Thorburn, a specialist colour and trim designer at the MG Design Centre at MG’s Longbridge site in Birmingham where MG3s are designed, engineered and where final assembly also takes place.

The students were involved in all of the excitement and build up to the design awards and, as well as the glitz and glamour, also helped in the sheer hard work of getting cars into major display venues.

Sir Doug made the InBusiness Student Experience award presentation at an awards evening at the Birmingham’s Macdonald Burlington Hotel, where apprentices and businesses were celebrated. More than 200 leading businessmen, education providers and students enjoyed a night which highlighted the positive benefits of everyone involved in promoting apprenticeships.

Mike Hopkins, Principal of South and City College, said: “Congratulations to MG on their recent award wins. MG certainly created an exceptional experience for our students. The Gold award the company won while our young people were with them was just the icing on the cake for an unforgettable couple of days.

“It is great that MG has taken the time to give young people the opportunity to experience working life, and we hope to work with them more in the future as they continue to grow.”

MG 1 - MG now desperate to appoint more UK dealers to "cope" with demand.

MG has launched a quest to find 30 new dealers to fill key ‘hot spots’ created by the brand’s growing popularity. Last year MG was the fastest growing brand in Britain with a boom in sales that saw MG grow by an incredible 361 per cent – more than 38 times greater than the industry average.

But now demand for MGs across the country is out-stripping the number of dealers in the network. So the firm’s franchise development team have created a ‘hot spot’ list of key cities and towns where MG dealers are urgently needed.

The ‘hot spots’ include:

• Nottingham
• Leeds
• Edinburgh
• Swansea
• Lisburn

MG’s Head of Sales, Sam Burton, said: “We urgently need good quality dealers to represent MG in a number of key open points where we know demand for our cars is amazingly high, and growing on a daily basis.

“We've established a Dealer Task Force here and their job is to find the right people to become MG dealers in these key towns and cities. It’s a high priority job for us now and will offer a great opportunity for the dealers we appoint."

MG currently has a network of 57 full sales dealerships plus 10 After Sales outlets. The target by the end of 2015 is to have more than 80 full dealerships.

Matthew Cheyne, Head of Marketing at MG, added: “The MG3 created a huge boost in interest in MG. Soon we will launch the New MG6, which is a leap forward from the outgoing car, and next year we will see an MG SUV added to the range. 

“So that’s going to create even more customer demand and we just have to have more dealers to meet this.”

Regular Dealer Prospect Days are being planned at the MG Longbridge site. Firms interested in taking up an MG franchise will be invited to see where modern MGs are designed, engineered and finally assembled.

David Jackson, Franchising and Dealer Development Manager, explained: “We are really keen to fill these open points and anyone can contact me or my colleague David Martin to discuss the details.

“Of course we do set certain criteria that would-be dealers have to meet and we have to carry out due diligence to make sure prospective dealers are financially sound. But it’s a great opportunity for both sides in what are very exciting times for MG.” 

The top 30 MG open ‘hot spots’ are:

1. Sutton Coldfield 
2. Edinburgh 
3. Southampton
4. London North East 
5. Derby
6. Swansea
7. Hemel Hempstead 
8. London South East 
9. Lisburn
10. Warrington 
11. Crawley 
12. Bradford 
13. Stockport 
14. Slough 
15. Harlow
16. London North West 
17. Liverpool 
18. Kilmarnock 
19. Durham 
20. Milton Keynes 
21. Epsom
22. Nottingham 
23. Aberdeen 
24. Kirkcaldy 
25. Huddersfield 
26. Motherwell 
27. Wirral 
28. Leeds 
29. London South 
30. Worcester

MG Parent company moves back into Fortune 500 top 100 companies, beating Disney, Coke and Sony.

• MG Motor parent company, SAIC Motor placed 85^th in Global Fortune 500
• SAIC’s 2013 yearly sales revenue total of $92 billion
• MG Motor UK fastest growing automotive brand in the UK for seventh month running
• News announced as MG celebrates its 90^th anniversary and rapid expansion of retailer network in the UK

MG parent company, SAIC Motor, has entered the Global Fortune top 100 with the company’s tenth appearance in the annual Fortune 500 list, moving up 18 places from last year’s result to reach 85^th position, with 2013 yearly sales revenues of $92 billion.

The US based Fortune publication announced this year’s Global Fortune 500, with US giant Wal- Mart retaining the number one spot. SAIC’s 85^th position, saw the Chinese national placed ahead of many well known brands such as Microsoft (104^th), Sony (105^th), Amazon.com (112^th), Google (162^nd), Coca- Cola (224^th) and Walt Disney (232^nd).

SAIC Motor is the market leader for sales in China, last year achieving record global manufacturing and sales of over 5.1 million units, an increase of 13.71% on 2012 sales and the first Chinese automotive manufacturer to exceed five million units in a year. 230,000 units of this extraordinary end of year figure can be attributed to global sales of the MG and Roewe marques.

SAIC Motor continues to grow as a leader in independent technology innovation, with recently announced new powertrain developments and the industrialisation of new energies, as well as the launch of the first manufacturer-owned O2O commerce platform. SAIC has sought to strengthen overseas operation and expand distributions in developing markets like ASEAN, Middle East, South America, specifically with the opening of a SAIC manufacturing facility in Thailand this year, enabling the company to expand into South East Asia, with production capacity expected to be around 50,000 vehicles a year.

2014 celebrates the 90^th anniversary of the MG marque and the most successful year to date for MG Motor UK. Last month, MG announced that the Birmingham based manufacturer had exceeded 2013 total sales in just the first five months 2014. This exceptional growth is set to continue as SMMT figures for June show a 791 per cent month on month, and a phenomenal 833 per cent year to date increase.

The success of the iconic marque has been due to the September 2013 launch of the MG3 supermini and expansion of the MG6 diesel powertrain family, with a new 129g, 350 Nm performance diesel recently added.

The MG3 supermini is fun to buy, fun to drive and fun to own with over one million personalisation options, class leading chassis and driving dynamics, and exceptional value for money aftercare packages. The successful supermini is priced from only £8,399 to £9,999, or on PCP from only £99 a month or from zero deposits. The MG3 benefits from an ultra low 4E insurance group, strong residuals of up to 61 per cent, class leading interior and boot space, and high levels of equipment on all specifications as standard, as well as complete peace of mind with the three years fixed servicing package MG CARE3, the ultimate in carefree ownership.

Voted by customers as the winner of Best Handling and sixth overall Best Car to Own in the 2014 Auto Express Driver Power Awards, the MG6 is already a favourite with MG owners for its drivability, affordability and exceptionally high levels of equipment included as standard. Now the MG6 is even more appealing as all specifications are available from just £15,455 to £19,995, and with the current ‘High 5’ offer, MG6 customers can buy and drive away with complete peace of mind. With servicing, warranty and breakdown cover free for five years, as well as fuel subsidies and affordable finance deals.

Since the launch of the MG3, MG has become the fastest growing automotive brand in the UK with 50 retailers in total, 22 of which opened in 2014 including; Havant, Torquay, south Sheffield, Dudley, Gloucester, north Sheffield, Woking, Spalding, Barnes in West London, Newcastle, Leicester, Harrogate, Doncaster, Northampton, Swindon, Norwich, Falmouth, Brecon, Maidstone, Wareham on the Purbeck peninsula, Oxfordshire and Exeter.