MG Motor Europe's new CEO is former VW-SAIC executive

SAIC Motor has promoted Xinyu Liu, formerly head of MG Motor France, as CEO of MG Motor Europe, as the Chinese automaker expands its presence in Europe.

Liu  replaces Matt Lei as head of European activities for MG Motor, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of SAIC.

Liu joined MG in 2019 from the SAIC-Volkswagen Group joint venture in China, and in 2020 was named to head MG’s activities in France.

He has spent two decades at SAIC, the company said. His most recent position before joining MG was as executive director of the Skoda division at SAIC-Volkswagen. Before that, he held various management positions in supply chain and purchasing.

SAIC revived the MG brand name and relaunched it in Europe in 2019 with a growing lineup of small and compact crossovers, station wagons and SUVs, with a focus on electrification. It is one of a number of Chinese brands hoping to make a permanent mark on Europe in the transition to electric vehicles.

MG now sells in 15 European countries, with 400 sales and service points. Liu said in statement that the brand’s goal for 2022 is to triple European sales. MG sold 52,546 vehicles in Europe in 2021, including about 30,000 in the UK.