Automotive Business Magazine – Q2 2026 – Digital edition - Magazine - Page 27
INT ERVIEW
MG
GUY PIGOUNAKIS
Competition from home
One of the biggest recent changes in the
UK car market has been the arrival of
new brands from China. These brands
have accelerated from nought to 100
faster than a Yangwang U9.
This places MG in a curious position. In
many ways, MG itself is a new Chinese
brand, it just happens to wear a centuryold British name.
Pigounakis says: “The thing that's
shocked me – and I know it has
shocked lots of people in the legacy
manufacturers – is how quickly customers
are prepared to walk away from an
established brand and buy something.
“Brands like BYD and OMODA&JAECOO
are selling well over 100,000 cars this
year, in a 2,000,000 market. That’s almost
inconceivable, and every one of those
cars is at the expense of someone else.”
Pigounakis has witnessed this
willingness to walk away first-hand:
“My neighbour came to me and he said,
‘Where can I buy a BYD?’. He's got an
Audi, a nice Audi, and he likes his cars,
but he's not a car nut.
“I said ‘You’re driving an Audi S6 or
whatever it is, it's a really nice car. Why
do you want a BYD?’
“His response was: ‘I've seen it on TV.
I went on their website, and I saw about
how they do this, and they do that.’
“This is from a man who was on his
fifth Audi, who previously would buy
nothing but a German car. If it wasn't
German, it wouldn't be on his drive.”
Pigounakis might be shocked about the
growth of the new Chinese brands, but
he’s certainly not worried. MG is currently
grappling with an entirely different
problem, it has more customers than it
has cars.
Pigounakis says: “We're not directly
being impacted by [these brands]. If we
were going backwards in terms of sales, →
Q1 2026
Q2
AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS
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