MG Motor Australia has removed the most affordable member of its HS SUV family from its website, following a recent price hike for the mid-sized SUV range.
The Chinese automaker has deleted every mention of the MG HS Core from its site, with the MG HS Vibe now listed as the entry-level model.
We’ve reached out to MG Motor Australia for comment about the Core’s removal and will update this story once we hear back.
The MG HS Core had been priced at $30,990 drive-away. The HS range now starts at $31,990 drive-away for the HS Vibe.
The HS range, including the HS Plus EV plug-in hybrid (PHEV), was recently subjected to a price rise as part of a wider range price hike.
Drive-away asking prices went up by between $700 and $1700, depending on the variant.
The Core was the only member of the HS range to feature cloth upholstery, a polyurethane steering wheel and a four-speaker sound system.
The MG HS Vibe, in contrast, has leatherette upholstery, a perforated leather-wrapped steering wheel, and a six-speaker sound system.
Australian sales of the MG HS began late in 2019, with the Core joining the range late in 2020 and a single range-topping PHEV variant launching locally in early 2021.
A more affordable plug-in hybrid variant, the MG HS Plus EV Excite, was introduced in early 2022 and is currently priced at $47,690 drive-away.
Following a relaunch in 2016, MG has been going from strength to strength in Australia and has been one of the top 10 best-selling brands for a number of months now.
The MG 3 small hatchback and MG ZS small SUV are currently the top sellers in their respective segments, but the MG HS medium SUV hasn’t quite reached the same charting-topping heights yet.
To the end of July 2022, MG has sold a total of 6436 HS models. It was outsold by the likes of the Toyota RAV4 (22,810 sales), Mazda CX-5 (16,360 sales), Kia Sportage (10,608 sales), Mitsubishi Outlander (10,553 sales) and Hyundai Tucson (9541 sales).
The MG HS did, however, outsell the Subaru Forester (6280 sales), Honda CR-V (4576 sales), GWM Haval H6 (3176 sales), Renault Koleos (1791 sales), and Ford Escape (1131 sales).
MORE: Everything MG HS
