All the Chinese majors – led by SAIC Motor-owned MG and LDV, and GWM-owned GWM and Haval brands – are reporting strong sales and an expanding dealer network.

MG Motor Australia PR and communications manager Tim Robson said MG’s growth curve has been “virtually vertical” over the past five years.

The brand started with three dealers at the end of 2016 and now has a national spread of 73, more than 80 when New Zealand is included.

“Some of those dealership opportunities have certainly come about as a result of vacancies on dealership rosters,” he said.

“But it’s fair to say that the sales volumes achieved by those dealers has made the decision to work with MG a good one.”

GWM Australia and New Zealand head of marketing and communications Steve Maciver said the expansion of the network over the past 12-18 months was “very much aligned with” the brand’s “mid-term plans”.

“Finding good business partners with the right showroom facility in the right area has been the key,” he said.

“The arrival of new products and positive growth in the GWM brand has created a number of opportunities (for dealers with empty stores).

“In some instances, including in areas such as Geelong (Victoria), North Lakes and Wanneroo (WA) and Homebush (NSW), this has resulted in GWM moving into showrooms that were previously held by Holden or Honda.”

Mr Robson said in MG’s case, its Central Coast MG dealership in NSW was a good example.

MG Central Coast

“It’s a multi-franchise dealership which initially allocated a small amount of floor space to the MG brand to start with in December 2019,” he said.

“As sales grew, that area grew bigger to the point where the dealership branding and signage that was once allocated to Holden is now MG.

“It’s a similar story with Ryde MG in Sydney. Once a Holden stronghold, it’s now a consistent top-10 performer within the MG network.”

In WA, the Honda dealer network has shrunk to five under the new agency system. When the system was announced almost 18 months ago, some Honda dealers looked for a new franchise and in the case of Honda Wangara, that led to it becoming an MG dealership.

In another case, one dealer said his move from Honda to MG had produced significantly more sales, but produced less profit per vehicle. Regardless, he’s still happy he gained an MG franchise.

It is not always a Chinese brand that benefited as the Holden and Honda dealers lost their franchises. Rockingham Volkswagen and GMSV (General Motors Specialty Vehicles) is part of the Shacks Group in WA and has been a Holden dealer since the brand’s 1948 inception.

When Holden departed from sales, Shacks Holden and Shacks Cockburn had to break decades of loyalty and find new brands to represent.

The Cockburn dealership was moved to Rockingham and maintained contact with GM by being appointed a GMSV dealer, remained a Holden certified service centre and picked up Volkswagen as its main franchise within its new showroom.

In Adelaide, long-standing Honda dealer Dave Potter Motors was left without a franchise but became the city’s second BMW dealership, complete with a new centre-city showroom and service centre.

In year-to-date July figures provided by Vfacts, the passenger car market is down 4.2 per cent while the SUV sector is up three per cent.

But for those dealers who moved elsewhere, the figures are impressive. LDV sales are up 115.9 per cent compared with the period in 2020; GWM (including Haval) is up 268.4 per cent; and MG is up 233.3 per cent.

For those who moved to other brands mentioned here, BMW is up 17.2 per cent and Volkswagen is up 6.1 per cent.

Holden is no longer in the market and Honda sales are down 38.1 per cent over the same period and were down 62 per cent in July this year compared with July 2020.

By Neil Dowling