Chapelhouse Motor Group has added new MG Motor UK car dealerships in St Helens and Southport to its franchise portfolio.

The brace of Merseyside MG locations, on Canal Street, St Helens, and Liverpool Road, Southport, keep the Shanghai Automotive-owned brand on track to meet its target of operating from a 120-site franchised retail network by mid-2020.

They also come as MG looks to more than double its UK volumes to 30,000 registrations in 2020 – on the back of 44.5% growth to 13,075 in 2019 – with the help of increased electric vehicle (EV) sales.

As the latest addition to MG’s franchise partners, Chapelhouse Motor Group boasts more than 30 years of experience and operates with seven brands (including Citroen, Fiat, Kia, Peugeot, Suzuki and Vauxhall) across nine facilities.

Commenting on the group’s addition of MG operations director, Chris Layton, said: “As a dynamic, high-performing brand with exciting, aspirational plans for the future, we’re delighted to be working with MG to showcase their range across Lancashire and Merseyside.

“MG sits nicely amongst our other brands, fitting tightly into our customer profile and offering a high-quality alternative that majors on value-for-money without compromise.

“As the fastest growing manufacturer in the UK, we believe that now is the perfect time to build a partnership with MG and look forward to building on our relationship further.

“We are looking forward to welcoming new customers to both our new sites as we begin a new chapter in Chapelhouse Motor Group’s story.”

Giles Rayner, network development manager at MG Motor UK, said: “A well-established name amongst car buyers in the north-west, Chapelhouse Motor Group offered us the exciting opportunity to simultaneously launch two exceptional retail sites, with highly-experienced teams already in place to perfectly showcase the MG brand.

“As we rapidly expand our dealership network, these opportunities allow us to make sizeable steps towards achieving our goal of operating 120 showrooms by mid-2020, under our Momentum and Growth mid-term plan.

“We continue to look for established dealer groups in under-represented areas to partner with in the coming months, bringing MG to a wider audience than ever before.”

In a recent interview with AM, MG Motor UK head of sales and marketing, Daniel Gregorious, revealed that the brands growth plans in 2020 and beyond would see it drive its affordable EV offering with no restriction of volumes.

MG has asserted that it has no supply issues thanks to owner SAIC’s battery factory in China that can produce 300,000 units per year and Gregorious said: “We want to sell several thousand ZE EVs per year and there will be greater supply in 2020.”

In addition to the popular ZS EV SUV, and the addition of a new HS flagship SUV in 2019, MG is poised to launch a new C-segment EV as it targets increased fleet sales.

Gregorious said that the new model will introduce a “completely new body style for an EV in Europe” and will give fleet audiences in-particular an “alternative C-segment option”.