√The rise and rise of Chinese new-car sales in Australia

Chinese brands MG, LDV and Great Wall Motors Haval continue to post sales records amid an Australian new-car market slump.

Sales of Chinese new cars are accelerating at a rapid rate in Australia as the rest of the automotive industry has stalled or hit reverse.

Chinese brands MG, LDV and Great Wall Motors Haval (now known as GWM Haval) have continued to post record sales results in Australia so far this year – despite production interruptions and delivery slowdowns due to parts shortages affecting the global automotive industry during the pandemic.

Sales of new cars from China have increased by a staggering 55 per cent in the four months from the start of January through to the end of April 2022 compared to the same period the prior year – in a market that is down by 3.5 per cent.

MG – which has had a rapid rise into the Top 10 brands after being ranked 30th in 2018, 21st in 2019 and 17th in 2020 – continues to lead its counterparts from China, with more than 16,000 new vehicles reported as sold (up 36.7 per cent).

MG now ranks seventh in the year-to-date sales tally.

And a battle is emerging between fellow Chinese brands LDV (4800 sales, up 13.7 per cent) and GWM Haval (4200, up 6.1 per cent) in the first four months of this year.

Chinese cars are finally finding momentum in Australia after a stalled start in 2010 amid poor safety ratings and an asbestos scare with certain Great Wall Motors vehicles.

New cars from China ranked as our fourth biggest source of motor vehicles behind Japan, Thailand, and South Korea for the first time in a calendar year – ahead of the US and Germany.

Last year MG – which is owned by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) – reported just shy of 40,000 new motor vehicles as sold in Australia. That’s more than double MG’s tally in Australia from the previous year.

Meanwhile, Great Wall Motors Haval reported 18,000 new motor vehicles as sold in Australia in 2021, more than triple its tally from the previous year.

The independently-distributed LDV brand – which specialises in utes and vans – posted a record 15,000 new vehicle deliveries, an increase of 62 per cent compared to the prior year.

Although the MG brand has been sold locally in various guises over the past decade or so, it has only been in Australia under the current direct ownership of its Chinese parent company since 2017.

As ever, the numbers tell the story. Here are the April year-to-date figures for new motor vehicles from China: