MG

Brand Overview

MG stands for Morris Garages. It was founded in Oxford, UK, in 1924, jointly established by the father of the MG brand, William Morris, and the founder of the MG brand, Cecil Kimber. As a British sports car brand with a century of history, MG has contributed many classics to the global automotive industry, including setting 43 world speed records. The application of numerous industry firsts and forward-looking technologies has not only verified the brand's racing genes, inherited over a century, but also promoted the development of the global automotive industry.

William Morris was once a bicycle mechanic at the bottom of British society. In 1910, he established Morris Garages, abbreviated as MG. Later, Cecil Kimber took over Morris Company in 1923 and used MG as the brand name for the company's first car, which also became the origin of the MG brand name. Subsequently, the MG brand continued to deeply cultivate the sports car field and created a brilliant history in the 1960s. However, since the 1980s, the brand's business began to decline, experiencing several asset transfers: it was acquired by British Airways and BMW in succession, returned to the UK in 2000 and was included in the MG-Rover Group. In 2005, the MG-Rover Group declared bankruptcy, and the MG brand was acquired by China's Nanjing Automotive Group (South Auto), completing an identity shift from British aristocracy to a Chinese independent car brand. In 2007, SAIC Motor fully acquired Nanjing Automotive Group, and since then the MG brand has officially belonged to SAIC Passenger Vehicle, becoming one of SAIC Motor's independent brands.

Development History

The development history of the MG brand is a story of the localization transformation of an international car brand, which can be roughly divided into two major periods: rise and fall in the UK and revival in China.

British Golden Age (1924–2005): As one of the representatives of the British automotive industry, MG became synonymous with convertible sports cars and motorsports due to its excellent sports genes. It created collectibles for the Queen of the UK—the MGB. Even in the 1930 Brooklands endurance race, the MG-built M-Type racing car defeated the Bentley team, demonstrating the brand's remarkable strength. MG is known for producing MG series convertible sports cars and is a unique presence in the history of the world automotive industry.

Chinese Rebirth Period (2005 to Present): On the road to MG's revival, Nanjing Automotive Group and SAIC Motor played key roles. After the MG brand was acquired by Nanjing Auto in 2005, both sides initially attempted to introduce products to the Chinese market. In 2007, with SAIC Motor officially acquiring the MG brand, the brand opened a new chapter of deep involvement in the Chinese market. After going through early transition difficulties, SAIC released the brand development strategy named "Mission100" in May 2020, planning to achieve three major goals by 2023 (the time of MG's centenary): sales in 100 regions globally, global annual sales volume of 1 million units, and 100% user satisfaction. Subsequently, MG accelerated its globalization strategy, achieving leapfrog sales growth in the European market starting from 2021. Starting with annual sales of 50,000 units in Europe in 2021, it broke through 300,000 units in 2025, and by the beginning of 2026, cumulative sales in the European and UK markets had broken through 1 million units, making MG the first Chinese car brand to achieve this milestone and opening a new era of high-speed growth in overseas markets.

Product Portfolio

The models currently on sale mainly cover three major categories: fuel vehicles, pure electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrid vehicles, including sub-segments such as sedans, SUVs, coupes, and convertible sports cars.

MG5 Series: As the brand's main compact sedan, the MG5 continues the brand's coupe design tradition, adopting a Fastback fastback styling. It is equipped with a 1.5T engine and a 7-speed wet dual-clutch gearbox, achieving 0-100 km/h acceleration in 6.9 seconds. The drive axle chassis is equipped with an XDS cornering dynamic control system and an EPS-PRO electric power steering system, rare in its class, with a trade-in surprise price as low as 59,900 RMB, targeting young consumers with a high cost-performance ratio.

MG Cyberster: Positioned as the brand's flagship pure electric convertible sports car, with a price range of 319,800 RMB to 359,800 RMB. The model continues the classic design of electric scissor doors and a soft-top convertible. The powertrain outputs 544 horsepower and 725 N·m of torque, achieving 0-100 km/h acceleration in 3.2 seconds, and is equipped with a Brembo four-piston brake system. The new model has undergone specialized chassis tuning, with optimized spring stiffness and damper settings, focusing on a high-performance track style and a luxurious convertible electric driving experience.

All-new MG4: As the first heavyweight model of MG's electrification and intelligence transformation, the MG4 has continued to sell well since its launch, breaking 10,000 monthly sales for seven consecutive months. In March 2026, single-month sales reached 15,236 units, and cumulative deliveries broke through 80,000 units. It has established a differentiated competitive advantage in the pure electric two-box market.

MG ZS Family (including fuel and hybrid versions): This is MG's best-selling model in the European market, with cumulative sales of 424,000 units and very high recognition in overseas markets. With the electrification transformation, new energy vehicle models such as the all-new MG4, MG4 X, and MG 07 are gradually being launched, further expanding the brand's product lineup.

Market Performance

In overseas markets, MG stands out as a rapidly growing Chinese export force. After MG first returned to the European market, in just a few short years, it became the first Chinese car brand to reach a million-unit sales scale locally. In 2025, MG's sales in Europe exceeded 300,000 units, a year-on-year increase of about 30%, and it has held the top sales position among Chinese brands in Europe for 11 consecutive years. In the overall European vehicle ranking, including local automakers, it ranks 16th and is the only Chinese brand in the top 20. Among MG's sales, annual sales in the UK market reached 85,200 units, the Spanish market broke through 45,000 units, the Norwegian market sold over 8,000 units relying solely on the MG4 model, and cumulative sales in the Australia-New Zealand market approached 300,000 units. The MG4 has maintained a leading position in the European pure electric small car sub-segment for several consecutive months. In the first half of 2025, MG also surpassed Tesla with half-year sales of 153,000 units, achieving year-on-year growth of 18.6% against the backdrop of an overall 0.9% decline in the entire European market.

In the domestic market, MG sales also performed notably well in 2025. Global retail volume for the year increased by over 59% year-on-year. The incremental volume was mainly driven by the overseas market, but the core contribution still came from the sales explosion driven by new energy hits such as the MG4. Although it still faces pressure from competition with European local luxury brands and supply chain tensions, the brand's influence and user awareness in the local market are steadily improving.

Core Technology

Relying on SAIC Motor's technical reserves in five major areas—power batteries, intelligent cockpits, intelligent electric drives, intelligent chassis, and intelligent assisted driving—MG is accelerating its layout of forward-looking technology routes in the new energy field.

In March 2026, MG launched a new European Engineering Center in Frankfurt, Germany. The center will focus on the local needs of the European market, combining European climate characteristics, road conditions, and user driving habits to carry out customized model R&D, and will coordinate with MG's engineering and design systems located in London and Longbridge, UK, to complete the brand's full-chain R&D layout in Europe. The solid-state battery technology released simultaneously adopts a manganese-based system, with solid components accounting for about 95% of the electrolyte structure. The battery can maintain more than 90% of its capacity in a -20°C environment, transient power response is improved by 20%, and vehicle start can be completed without preheating, with acceleration performance under low-temperature conditions significantly better than traditional electric vehicles. MG also became the world's first automotive manufacturer to achieve mass production of semi-solid-state batteries. The first batch of models equipped with semi-solid-state batteries is the MG4 EV Urban, which will officially enter the European market by the end of 2026.

In terms of hybrid technology, MG released its Hybrid+ oil-electric hybrid technology simultaneously. It achieves fuel consumption control and power output response improvement through software and hardware collaborative optimization, realizing seamless integration of mechanical and electric systems. Benefiting from the strategic layout of hybrid technology, MG Hybrid+ hybrid vehicle sales reached 137,000 units in 2025, a year-on-year increase of nearly 300%, and has become one of the sub-segments with the largest incremental growth in Europe.

MG actively builds a technical ecosystem with ecosystem partners. The strategic cooperation with OPPO Smart Driving in the field of vehicle-machine interconnection ecosystem, based on SAIC's ZEROB independent architecture and deep integration with the OPPO ecosystem, launches an intelligent interconnection full-stack solution, covering technologies such as mobile voice pre-car, hand-vehicle app integration, seamless interconnection, shake-to-navigate, and full-ecosystem on-board features, covering core scenarios of daily car use. In addition, MG relies on Horizon Robotics' strategic large model to build an intelligent driving algorithm system, fusing high-computing AI solutions and multi-scenario perception capabilities, constantly accelerating the iteration from L2 to full-scenario intelligent assisted driving.

Outlook

MG's globalization strategy has moved beyond the limitations of single-product trade and shifted toward the overall overseas expansion of brand and technical system capabilities. Currently, the brand has covered 34 countries and regions in Europe, laid out 1,300 sales and service networks, established a UK-Germany dual R&D center collaborative network locally, and launched the European Engineering Center in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2026, forming a European localization layout covering the full chain.

According to market news, MG is actively selecting a site to build a new European electric vehicle factory in Spain, aiming to avoid tariff barriers through EU localized production and to deeply align with SAIC Motor's global sales system, which has a scale of 4.507 million vehicles, in supply chain and channel collaboration. Local production in Europe will officially start as early as 2027, focusing on pure electric models and localized packaging and procurement of core batteries to cope with increasingly strict EU carbon emission and tariff standards.

In the future, MG will firmly implement its "Comprehensive All-in New Energy" strategy. The comprehensive electrification transformation focuses on promoting the parallel development of three technology routes: pure electric, extended range, and plug-in hybrid. New energy models will be launched densely every year within the planning period to achieve full coverage of four categories: sedans, SUVs, sports cars, and shooting brakes. MG will continue to rely on its leading advantages in semi-solid-state battery mass production, Hybrid+ hybrid full-stack independent research capabilities, and the computing power fusion of cross-border vehicle-machine interconnection intelligent ecosystems to comprehensively expand into global high-end and mid-range new energy markets. The brand insists on deep localization layout and global high-value technology dual-core drive, leading Chinese car brands to reshape the competitive landscape in the world's most challenging markets.