MGs are selling like hot cakes in China – while scores of UK dealers queue up for deliveries of the new MG6.

New figures released by MG Motor UK reveal that parent group Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation sold 178,000 MG and Roewe brand vehicles in the Far East last year.

The sales success in the Far East, the world’s fastest growing car market, comes as MG Motor UK seeks to cash in on last week’s spectacular UK launch of the new MG6 with a stand at this week’s Shanghai Motor Show.

Speaking from Shanghai, MG Motor UK PR Manager Doug Wallace said the reaction in the UK to the MG6 – which is bringing volume production back to Longbridge – has been “staggering” with people stopping dealers in the street to take photos of it.

“We have got up to 34 dealers at present and we are talking to around 23 more, all of whom will be appointed in the next few weeks.

“We anticipate that we will eventually have 60 to 70 dealerships across the UK.”

The MG6 is 80 per cent built in China and shipped to Birmingham for final assembly.

The launch of the model will take annual car production at Longbridge into the thousands rather than hundreds.