Possible Crash Scenario for MG in France?

True success in France, the British brand MG, now under Chinese ownership, can it afford to give up the Ecological Bonus?

Just five years ago, MG was a brand destined to enter the Wikipedia archives as a vanished British gem. The symbol of an carefree era where driving a small, lightweight convertible was the pinnacle of refinement, but it had failed to transition into large-scale automobile production. Sensing a good opportunity, in 2007 the Chinese group SAIC acquired the flagging brand and made MG their Trojan horse to conquer the world. The roll of the dice turned out to be a stroke of genius!

And MG is reborn from its ashes

Rising from 700 sales in 2020 to over 25,000 expected this year. The manufacturer has become a major player in the market, respected and feared. Even better, MG’s electric vehicles have achieved a level of quality that many other manufacturers envy.

And as if that weren’t enough, MG, with the help of its banking partner, was also able to launch a social leasing offer at 99 euros per month on the MG4 in July 2023. Building on its success, with more than 700 cars sold in just two months (roughly 10% of MG4 sales during that period), MG Motor and Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance decided to extend this social leasing offer on the MG4 and to add the MG5 until the end of 2023. History will remember that the manufacturer succeeded where the French government failed.

(Not necessarily) the fall will be harder

Such success can only be aggravating when considering that MG’s commercial success is largely due to the Ecological Bonus benefiting cars produced in China. The new rules unveiled this week confirmed what was expected. On December 15, the MG range is expected to be removed from the list of vehicles eligible for the famous Bonus.

Does this mean the end of the Love Story between MG and the French public? Not necessarily, because unlike Tesla, which multiplies promotions and discounts, MG announces prices and sticks to them. And it works! At 40,000 euros after all subsidies, the MG4 XPower remains the most affordable family dragster on the market, capable of covering 380 km after accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds. At 45,000 euros, the Marvel R Luxury confidently rivals the Peugeot E-3008 and the new Renault Scenic.