MG is removing its MG6 hatchback from the UK market after the company decided not to update its diesel engine to meet tighter Euro 6 regulations.
Back towards the end of 2012, a 1.9-litre turbodiesel engine developed in-house by MG’s Chinese owners SAIC was introduced to the MG6 range alongside a 1.8-litre turbo petrol unit. By the start of last year, the petrol engine was removed from the MG6’s range leaving only the diesel unit on sale.
However, it has now emerged that SAIC has struggled with sales of the diesel engine in its home market, making it financially unviable to develop the unit further for the UK.
Therefore, the MG6 will no longer be assembled at MG’s UK plant in Longbridge, Birmingham. While car buyers will be able to purchase existing models still in dealerships, MG will not be adding more to the existing stock. No other MG model is expected to use the 1.9-litre turbodiesel in the future.
Low sales for MG6
The decision to drop the MG6 from the line-up is unlikely to have a meaningful impact on MG’s performance in the UK market.
MG has increased UK sales over the last couple of years, going from 2,326 in 2014 to 3,158 in 2015. The brand also says it’s on course to hit 5,000 UK sales by the end of this year. However, the MG6 has only covered a small fraction of those numbers.
Figures from JATO Dynamics reveal that only 548 examples of the MG6 were sold in Britain last year, whereas the smaller MG3 supermini managed 2,603 sales.
MG is also turning attention to the SUV market, as its all-new GS launched in the UK earlier this week. During the launch of the GS, MG also revealed that it will launch a small crossover next year which will rival cars like the Nissan Juke.
You can check out our thoughts on the new MG GS in our review.