They are looking at it. MG Motor Australia says it’s weighing up a hybrid U9 for local buyers. Not the diesel you already know. Not even the electric one coming later. A plug-in variant, designed specifically to punch holes in the sales sheets of the BYD Shark 6. And the Ford Ranger Hybrid. And GWM’s Cannon Alpha.
The diesel U9 hit our shores last September. Big thing. Five-and-a-half metres long, which actually beats every main rival for size. The Shark 6 sits at 5457 mm, just inches short. The MG carries a 160 kW, 2.5-liter turbo-diesel heart. Torque sits at 520 Nm. It’s heavy metal in a steel skin.
Then came the EV plans. Government filings didn’t hide it. The U9 EV is coming with a dual-motor AWD setup. 325 kW of pure electric shove. Direct competitor to Toyota’s HiLux BEV. But here is the snag. People are still buying hybrids.
June 2026 showed the trend clearly. EVs hit 23.3 percent share, a record high for sure. But hybrids—both plug-in and regular—took 26.2 percent. Combined, they are eating diesel’s lunch.
Take the Shark 6. It blew past expectations. May saw 1,244 units. June? 3,398. It didn’t just grow; it doubled. That makes it Australia’s best-selling PHEV. Sixth overall in the country. Third-most popular ute. Sitting right behind the Ranger and the HiLux legends.
Dimitri Andreatidis, marketing lead for MG, was careful. Too careful, maybe. When pressed by CarExpert about a hybrid U9, he hinted without promising. He noted the competition is crushing it with this segment.
“We can’t talk about what the进化 [evolution] for U9 will be, but absolutely, it plays a key role,” Andreatidis said. Competitors are doing well. They deserve it, he admitted. A rare bit of grace in an industry usually drowning in bravado.
There is a template. The U9 shares bones with the LDV Terron and eTerron. Both brands sit under the SAIC umbrella. In China, they showed off a PHEV version of the Terron at the April 2026 Beijing Motor Show. Production starts in 2027. It uses the same platform. It hasn’t landed Down Under yet.
CarExpert pointed out a glaring gap. MG has the diesel. They have the EV. The hybrid sweet spot? Empty.
Andreatidis nodded. Fair point, he conceded. But he wouldn’t lock in the future.
“Right now, we’re focusing on our diesel, then our EV comes at the end of the year. At that point, we can look forward to the story of the U9. And who knows what the future holds?”
The U9 currently owns the ends of the spectrum—raw diesel torque and silent electric acceleration—while skipping the messy middle that customers seem to prefer right now.
Sales numbers don’t lie about the diesel struggle, though it’s improving. June 2026 brought 122 diesel U9s to customers. Best month ever for that specific variant. A limited-edition Black Edition just joined the lineup to spice things up.
MG as a brand moved up to ninth place nationally in June. Total sales hit 5,001, a 6.8 percent jump over the previous year. They actually passed Chery, who slipped to tenth. The ZS SUV led the charge with 1,827 sales. The MG 4 EV Urban sold 1,015 units. The small MG 3 hatchback dragged behind with 898.
Will a hybrid U9 save the day? Or will customers wait for the full electric version and call it quits on internal combustion? The market decides. MG waits.
