MG Motor surpassed 1 million cumulative vehicle sales in Europe last week, becoming the first Chinese automaker to reach the milestone in Old Continent.
The brand, originally British and founded in 1924, has been owned by Shanghai-based SAIC Motor since 2007.
It returned to the UK market in 2011 and is currently present in 34 European countries with more than 1,300 dealer partners.
The UK remains MG‘s strongest European market, with 386,000 cumulative sales.
Of the brand’s cumulative total, 317,000 were fully electric vehicles — over 100,000 in the UK alone — following the launch of the MG4 EV hatchback and its new entry-level Urban variant.
The brand’s best-selling model in Europe is the MG ZS crossover SUV — available in petrol and hybrid versions — which has sold 424,000 units cumulatively.
Guy Pigounakis, commercial director of MG‘s British division, said the brand’s “heritage continues to shape its strategic direction” and that its resurgence has been driven by a broad product lineup and early adoption of hybrid and electric technology.
The milestone comes as SAIC faces the steepest tariff burden among Chinese automakers exporting to the EU.
Brussels imposed a 45.3% combined duty on SAIC-built electric vehicles in late 2024, the highest rate applied to any Chinese manufacturer, after an anti-subsidy investigation concluded the company had not cooperated sufficiently with the probe.
2025 Sales
Last year, MG sold more than 300,000 units in Europe, an increase of approximately 30% from 2024.
A further 139,000 were hybrid vehicles, including HEV, PHEV, and mild hybrid models, which the company said reflected a “significant surge in orders during 2025.”
In the first half of 2025, MG was the best-selling Chinese-owned brand in Europe with 153,000 units, surpassing Tesla for the first time in half-year sales, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
MG‘s 18.6% year-over-year growth sharply outpaced the broader European market, which contracted 0.9% over the same period.
2026 Sales and Plans
The brand sold nearly 26,000 vehicles in Europe last month, a year-on-year increase of approximately 15%.
The result made it the best-selling Chinese-owned brand in Europe in January, though Leapmotor — backed by Stellantis — posted the sharpest surge at 408%.
Preliminary data from Dataforce showed that overall EU automotive sales fell 3.6% year over year in January, while Chinese brands collectively more than doubled their volumes.
The company is set to make “several key announcements, covering technology and design” in the first half of this year.
Last November, MG confirmed that it is aiming to launch two new models by May.
