“I think brokers are becoming more important rather than less important.”
MG is launching an official broker programme with the aim of doubling its sales volume through the sector in 2026.
Last year, MG registered just over 85,000 cars, up 4,000 on 2024. Of these approximately 3,500 were through brokers “almost by accident”, said Guy Pigounakis, MG’s Commercial Director.
Speaking exclusively to Broker News, Pigounakis said:
“We’re actually developing a broker programme this year for the first time because we probably sold about three and a half thousand cars to brokers last year almost by accident. It’s a channel we can’t afford to ignore. So I want to double that this year.
“It’s another way we’ll build volume again through channels that are growing in importance but where we don’t necessarily compete aggressively now.”
MG is aiming to pass 100,000 new car registrations in 2026 despite increased competition from new entrant brands. Much of the increase will come from new BEV product which Pigounakis believes will perform well in the corporate sector.
“One of the things that’s opened my eyes in the past 12 months is a lot of the business we do with contract hire leasing companies actually goes through their broker networks.
“Lots of cars that we have historically chosen to think are going to end users are actually going through brokers.”
Pigounakis added retailer resistance was inevitable. “Dealers hate it, of course, unless they’re supplying them,” he said. But exclusion comes at a cost. “You can take a very snooty approach and say we don’t do business in these channels. Okay, just accept then you’re excluding yourself from a market that’s a couple of hundred thousand cars a year.”
MG product plan for volume
“We’ve got a target of 100,000,” Pigounakis said. “I think that’s going to be a really tough task, especially with all the competition coming to the marketplace.”
MG believes it will hit that target because of the breadth it now has with its product lineup.
“We’ve gone into the market with an updated MG4, new Urban, the S5, which is establishing itself now, the S6 just launched and two IMs,” he said. “So a completely different product portfolio for this year.”
That breadth matters most in the corporate sector, he pointed out. “The corporate market is dominated by electric cars because of benefit in kind and P11D,” he says. “Last year we competed with our hands tied behind our back in the corporate sector. This year we’ve got a cracking range of cars.”
The IM sub-brand is a key plank in MG’s product plan for growth. “We’ve taken over 3,000 orders already,” he said, with expectations of “six to seven thousand” units this year. Crucially, those sales are incremental. “If we do five, six, seven thousand this year, it’s five, six, seven thousand genuine incremental cars that we wouldn’t have sold.”
This broad range of both EVs and hybrids provides a defence against new entrants with limited ranges.
“We’re not massively dependent on 75-80% of our volume on literally one range and one derivative,” he said. “All you need is for that car to become not as trendy as it was overnight and you’re horribly exposed.”
And leasing brokers will be an integral part of the product-led growth from MG.
Broker News Newsletter 3 March 2026
Catch up on the latest leasing broker news in the 3 March 2026 Broker News newsletter
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Tristan Young is an award winning journalist with more than 25 years’ experience reporting on the automotive industry focussing predominantly on fleet and retail. As a self-confessed petrol-head, Tristan has a weakness for car classifieds. When he’s not writing about the automotive industry, he can usually be found outdoors with a small pack of border collies.
