SAIC wants to build an MG plant in Europe
- The Chinese group SAIC, which is the largest automobile producer in China (nearly 5 million vehicles produced in 2022), assembles under license Volkswagens and cars from the GM group (Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac) and also produces the MG, Roewe and Maxus brands. As a reminder, these three brands are the last vestiges of the former British group MG-Rover and the light utility vehicle brand LDV which disappeared in 2005 and 2009 respectively.
- MG, a former British brand, has gradually become the best-selling Chinese brand in Europe. In 2022, 114,000 MG were sold in Europe compared to 53,000 in 2021 and 26,000 in 2020. The brand doubles its sales every year on this continent! In the first 6 months of 2023, MG sold 103,000 cars in Europe (including 40,000 in Great Britain), which suggests that the brand will easily exceed 200,000 sales over the whole year.
- It is in this context that SAIC decided to build an MG assembly plant in Europe, either in Great Britain (its historic country and the one that buys the most MGs in Europe) or in continental Europe.
- For SAIC, this decision makes it possible to support the growing commercial success of MG in Europe but also, in the event that the chosen site is located in the European Union, to by-pass potential barriers to the entry for battery electric vehicles (BEV) produced outside the European Union. SAIC's announcement is not an isolated case as BYD has indicated that it also wants to produce electric cars in Europe. Tesla also plans to build a second assembly plant in Europe, after the one in Berlin (Germany).