MG’s model portfolio here is set to double in size next year, with an all-out push into all but one key segment. Incoming are sports utility wagons, in medium and large, a mid-sized sports car and premium models to site in the same zone as MG’s halo product and current price-topper, the $129,000 Cyberster sports car.
The Sino-Brit marque’s regional boss Peter Ciao cannot categorically promise every one of the eight new vehicles proposed for this region will come to New Zealand.
However, at least five are definitely on the way and, he believes, all have potential to deliver significant market penetration.
The notable absentee from the onslaught is the kind of vehicle Kiwis love most of all: a dual-cab one-tonne utility.
MG parent SAIC has one under development, but it’s not set for release until later in this decade.
Also axed from brand thinking is the MG5 sedan, at least in its current guise. "Confirmed" twice - first in 2021, again in June this year - the car that earned an unenviable zero-star safety score from ANCAP (Australasian New Car Assessment Programme) last year is now definitely off the wish list.
Presently MG fronts with the MG3 compact hatch in petrol and petrol-hybrid, MG4 electric hatch, ZS small SUV - this time kicking off as a petrol-electric - and the HS mid-size SUV in petrol. Plus Cyberster, another full electric.
It intends to add in petrol-pure editions of the ZS and hybrid and plug-in hybrid HS variants soon.
A fully-electric compact SUV to replace the ZS EV has been confirmed already, likely at mid-2025. That car represents as the ES5 in China.
Also coming are a mid-size SUV in the third quarter, the seven-seater large SUV and a sporty sedan.
Ciao and his team isn’t prepared to deep dive into full detail of those.
But they don’t dissuade thought the best bet for the large SUV representation is a version of the Roewe RX9, also presently sold domestically in China. MG’s edition is referred to as the QS. Its job is to rival to the Hyundai Santa Fe, Toyota Highlander and Kia Sorrento - but as a full electric proposition.
The sports sedan meantime will come in the form of the MG7 fastback, according to overseas’ suggestion.
MG really got going in NZ when it introduced the electric version of the first generation of the ZS, in 2020; it’s next hit was MG4.
With the new electric vehicle market in a big slump at the moment, some might question why that technology is still at the forefront of this next thrust.
But Ciao holds electrification is still “our future”, albeit in different representations.
“We consider hybrid is the future based on fuel efficiency and performance and MG provides all the solutions … PHEV, HEV, BEV and ICE.”
Aside from those pure petrol ZS models, everything else next year might well have a plug.
Along with a product wave, MG’s top man has also lent insight into a subtle change of credo for his make.
Management believes the time is right to start to shift away from being an all-out "price-led" make to one delivering a "value-led" proposition.
The change of perception for MG is driven by the delivery of cars of higher sophistication and flair than those delivered back in 2019, when it reinstated under Chinese direction.
Impetus with the first wave of cars was about under-cutting perceived rivals on price.
That effort extended to its first electric. The battery-dedicated ZS of the day immediately set the then small EV sector on its head by being the cheapest choice when it rolled in back in 2020.
“Best price, best value” is the latest preference. It might mean some modest price increases, but plenty of enforcement of all other positive aspects of buying an MG is also embedded. They include a strong warranty, technology and engineering advancements, customer support and a truly national dealer network.
On top of that, MG is working to enhance feel-good from the products themselves.
Ciao envisions price alone won’t cement an MG as being the best value car; it’ll also be about the technology, the performance, the quality, the fit and finish. The whole package.
It’s happening already with latest fare, he contends. As good as the first generations of the HS medium SUV and ZS compact were, Ciao says, the second generation versions are simply superior in every conceivable way. Consumers can tell as soon as they encounter them. That’s why they can sustain higher prices.
Where will it all end? MG is bullish about wanting to become of the great brands of modern motoring. He says it has “all the tech solutions, we have the ability and we can do everything”.