Why Toyota & co. should worry about this rival

MG has aspirations of becoming one of the best-selling brands in Australia, and with its latest move it may have taken a big step towards that.

In a change that should worry Toyota, Mazda, Kia and every other big brand, the Chinese-owned car maker has announced a ‘Winter Freeze’ on prices, slashing up to $6000 off what were already some of the best-value cars on the market.

Effective from today (July 1) MG has cut prices across its entire range and introduced national drive-away pricing across its hybrid models. This includes the recently launched HS Super Hybrid as well as the MG3 Hybrid+ and the ZS Hybrid+.

The HS Super Hybrid now starts at $50,990 drive-away for the Excite and $54,990 drive-away for the Essence, a reduction of $2000 and $1000 respectively from its introductory price just over one month ago.

MG has slashed $6000 off the MG4 XPower electric hot hatch, down to $49,990 (plus on-road costs) from its previous $55,990. However, the company had already dropped it from its original $59,990 ask when it first arrived.

MG has also announced it has extended its end of financial deals until the end of July, with savings on the new QS seven-seat SUV and the MGS5 electric SUV.

Peter Ciao, MG Motors Australia CEO, said the price cuts were part of the brand’s long-term strategy to remain accessible to a broad customer base.

“As we continue to grow, our mission remains the same – delivering high-quality, reliable vehicles engineered for Australian conditions, at prices Australians can afford,” Ciao said.

At the same time, MG has revealed new details about its upcoming MGU9 ute, confirming a seven-year/200,000km warranty when it arrives later this year. At least that’s for the MGU9 variants classified as a ‘Light Commercial Vehicle’ with commercial-use versions limited to just five-year/160,000km.

The rest of the non-commercial range remains covered by the extended 10-year/250,000km warranty introduced in late 2024.