MG Motor to fill final nine open points by year-end

By Martin Gurdon

MG Motor plans to complete its UK dealer network by the end of 2023, filling nine open points, according to its commercial director Guy Pigounakis.

“We will fill every major open point we have in the UK,” said Pigounakis, adding that his company had benefitted from established manufacturers appearing to look at moving away from traditional franchising sales.

“Lots of other brands are consolidating their networks and talking about going down the agency model, which is creating lots of opportunities for us, from well-known household name retailer with prime locations who are frankly worried about the longevity of brands they might have been selling for 20 or 40 years,” he said.

MG has stuck with the traditional franchise model. Pigounakis said it “has been quite vocal about not going down an agency route.”

Head of product and planning David Allison said that MG’s model range would be completely renewed in the next 18 months, with the MG4 EV becoming its oldest model. The range will also be expanded.

He was speaking at a central London promotional even for MG’s Cyberster EV two seater sportscar, which arrives next year and will effectively be MG’s first high end, niche product.

Pigounakis said that all the company’s UK dealers would be given the opportunity of selling the car provided they met “modest and reasonable standards” and invested in people and facilities to look after the car.

“In reality I think some dealers might decide not to sell the car because the opportunities are tiny, if you were a rural dealer, but someone in London might see it differently,” he said.