Don't say goodbye to the old MG 3 in Australia yet

There’s a new, better-equipped but more expensive MG 3 arriving in dealerships in the coming weeks, but the budget-friendly outgoing model will still be on dealer lots for a while.

MG Motor Australia has confirmed there’s still plentiful supply of the outgoing car.

“Nowadays it’s slim-pickings if you want to purchase a brand-new car on a used-car budget but our runout MG 3 is currently priced at $18,990 drive-away and we’ve got enough supply to take us to December 2024,” said MG Motor Australia national sales manager Brad Chruszcz.

The new MG 3 packs a massively expanded list of standard safety equipment, but its base price has climbed to $23,990 before on-road costs.

Once stock of the outgoing MG 3 is sold out, MG will no longer have Australia’s cheapest car with the Kia Picanto once again wearing that title.

The Picanto range opens at $17,890 before on-road costs or $20,690 drive-away, with the Sport manual.

With the new MG 3 reaching dealers in the coming weeks and the old one sticking around for a few months, MG should comfortably hold onto the title of Australia’s best-selling light car this year.

Moving forward, MG expects the MG 3 nameplate to remain on top.

“We are pretty confident we will still be number one in this segment,” MG Motor Australia CEO Peter Ciao told CarExpert.

It says the new-generation car’s higher price is justified as there’s $7000 of equipment that’s been added.

Every new MG 3 comes with autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, and rear cross-traffic alert – none of which are available on the outgoing car.

The lack of safety kit hasn’t hurt the MG 3 in the sales race, however.

MG sold 15,430 examples in Australia during 2023, for a 43.3 per cent share of the light cars under $30,000 segment.

That was well ahead of the second-place Suzuki Swift, of which 6914 were sold. It had a 19.4 per cent share of the segment.

In third place was the Mazda 2, with 5181 sales and a 14.5 per cent share.

Sales of the outgoing MG 3 increased every year until 2023, where they dipped by 4.6 per cent.

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