China's next big thing!

While many established brands in the Australian new vehicle market are battling strong headwinds, relative newcomers from China are charging ahead, scoring big wins on the May sales charts.

MG’s range of compact cars and SUVs, including relatively affordable EV options, has helped establish the brand as a fixture in the country’s list of top 10 makes. But last month’s sales numbers give a clue to the next big thing from China.

GWM’s line-up of dual-cab utes and Haval SUVs is obviously resonating with Aussie buyers, the brand stepping up from just over 5000 registrations in 2020 to more than 18,000 in 2021, with year-to-date (May) numbers 11.4 per cent ahead of last year’s result.

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Yes, production shortages and supply chain issues have hampered well known names, but numbers are numbers, and with 1878 units on the scorecard GWM out-sold the likes of Audi (941), Honda (1423), Jeep (615), Lexus (680), and Skoda (528) last month.

GWM's year-to-date tally of 6117 sales is also well ahead of Audi (4690), Jeep (2776), Lexus (3320) and Skoda (2594).

The other name to look out for is LDV, produced under the same SAIC corporate umbrella as MG. After several years in the market, its ever-expanding range of utes (T60 Max), vans (Deliver 9, G10, V80), and SUVs (D90) is gaining serious traction with local buyers, and has amassed 6140 new registrations to the end of May.

Recording 9323 sales in 2020, 15,188 in 2021, and so far 12.5 per cent up YTD (May) for 2022, LDV’s trajectory may not be quite as steep as GWM’s but it’s still an impressive result in a market that’s down 4.1 per cent year-on-year so far this year.

With other challenger brands from China due to launch here within 12 months things are only going to get tougher for production starved players.

BYD has its order books open for cars like the Atto 3 compact SUV EV, with other sedan and hatch models to follow. Plus there’s the return of Chery, and maybe EV specialist Nio and fledgling brand Xpeng. But for now, GWM is the most active mover and shaker.

We’re likely to see a Jolion H6 Hybrid as soon as the third quarter of this year. The soon-to-arrive Tank sub-brand is set to offer a range of tough-looking combustion and hybrid SUV (and possibly ute) models.

And yet another sub-brand, the distinctive, all-electric Ora line-up is scheduled to launch before the end of 2022.

So, for now, our bold prediction is GWM lining up as the next big thing to follow in MG’s footsteps.