MG Sales Thailand is confident it can double local purchases of MG cars to 50,000 this year.
The company set the aggressive target after posting record high sales of 23,740 Thai-made vehicles in 2018, a sharp increase of 97.6% from a year before.
The sales volume was well below the expectation of 30,000 units, but the MG brand took ninth place in the market, capturing a 2.3% market share.
Vice-president Pongsak Lertrudeewattanawong said the growth of MG cars will be in line with the country's car market uptick of 5-10% from 1.04 million units sold in 2018.
The company plans to introduce two new models in 2019, including new segments such as pickups, along with another 36 showrooms and service centres in 140 locations nationwide.
"We are very keen on increasing the number of MG cars on Thailand's roads, which reached nearly 50,000 units last year, the fifth year of operations here," he said.
MG Sales Thailand is the subsidiary of SAIC Motor-CP, a joint venture between Thai conglomerate CP Group and Shanghai-based SAIC Motor Corporation.
MG cars started local distribution in mid-2014, selling only 300 cars that year.
In 2015, sales grew sharply to 3,778 cars, then surged to 8,319 MG cars in 2016.
In 2017, 12,013 cars were sold.
SAIC Motor-CP has a car assembly plant at Hemaraj Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate 2 in Chon Buri province.
The local plant is set to be the production hub for right-hand-drive MG cars in Southeast Asia.
With an investment of 10 billion baht, the plant has a production capacity of 100,000 units per year and employs 690 workers.