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MG believes its U9 ute could be as popular as the Kia Tasman, Mazda BT-50, and Mitsubishi Triton... eventually.
MG Australia will soon have a new sales leader as the U9 ute arrives in local showrooms to compete against the hot-selling Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger, Isuzu D-Max, and others.
Speaking to media including Drive, MG Australia boss Peter Ciao would not be drawn on sales expectations for the U9 – the brand’s first local foray into the competitive dual-cab ute space – but predicted big things from the new model.
“100 per cent, we are a ute country,” Ciao said.
“It was very interesting the sales forecast.
“First of all, I have huge confidence in the success of this model [U9].
“But this is our first ute, it will be on a growth journey over time, it needs [the market] to process.
“One day [it will be our best-selling model].
“I cannot give you a [sales] number, but I have huge confidence in MG’s ability in Australia, we will try our best to provide the best value offer to customers.”
For the U9 to claim the title of the most popular local MG model, it would need to top the ZS small SUV, which has amassed 16,015 sales to the end of September this year – projected to reach roughly 21,353 units by the end of 2025.
A cira-20,000-unit annual total would also place the U9 amongst the Top Five most popular 4x4 utes in Australia, surpassing the Mazda BT-50 and Mitsubishi Triton that found 12,161 and 14,737 new homes in 2024.
The projected sales target to take out the MG sales crown is also identical to the 20,000 per year target set by Kia for its 4x2 and 4x4 Tasman ute from 2026 onwards, but the South Korean brand is well off the pace of its the 10,000-unit year-end goal so far.
Tung Nguyen has been in the automotive journalism industry for over a decade, cutting his teeth at various publications before finding himself at Drive in 2024. With experience in news, feature, review, and advice writing, as well as video presentation skills, Tung is a do-it-all content creator. Tung’s love of cars first started as a child watching Transformers on Saturday mornings, as well as countless hours on PlayStation’s Gran Turismo, meaning his dream car is a Nissan GT-R, with a Liberty Walk widebody kit, of course.
