diff --git a/internal/benchmarks/micro/micro_test.go b/internal/benchmarks/micro/micro_test.go
index dd96744..cbfb244 100644
--- a/internal/benchmarks/micro/micro_test.go
+++ b/internal/benchmarks/micro/micro_test.go
@@ -67,6 +67,14 @@
 			}
 		})
 	})
+	b.Run("New", func(b *testing.B) {
+		mt := (&emptypb.Empty{}).ProtoReflect().Type()
+		b.RunParallel(func(pb *testing.PB) {
+			for pb.Next() {
+				mt.New()
+			}
+		})
+	})
 }
 
 // BenchmarkRepeatedInt32 tests a message containing 500 non-packed repeated int32s.
diff --git a/internal/impl/message.go b/internal/impl/message.go
index 3945ab2..4f5fb67 100644
--- a/internal/impl/message.go
+++ b/internal/impl/message.go
@@ -218,7 +218,11 @@
 }
 
 func (mi *MessageInfo) New() protoreflect.Message {
-	return mi.MessageOf(reflect.New(mi.GoReflectType.Elem()).Interface())
+	m := reflect.New(mi.GoReflectType.Elem()).Interface()
+	if r, ok := m.(protoreflect.ProtoMessage); ok {
+		return r.ProtoReflect()
+	}
+	return mi.MessageOf(m)
 }
 func (mi *MessageInfo) Zero() protoreflect.Message {
 	return mi.MessageOf(reflect.Zero(mi.GoReflectType).Interface())