MG New Zealand will maintain budget-car credentials for its all-new ZS compact-SUV in petrol-only form: the entry Excite 1.5-litre model will still give $10 change from $30,000 when it's launched here in February.
The Essence with the same engine is $32,990, while the top Essence Turbo, which borrows its powertrain from the larger HS, is $34,990. That places it neatly under the Hybrid+ models that were introduced late last year, which start at $36,990 for the Excite and $39,990 for the Essence.
MG NZ won't release full specification details until February, but it claims the Excite and Essence return 6.7l/100km (it's not clear whether this is under NZ's 3P-WLTP standard), while the more powerful Essence Turbo is rated at 6.9l/100km.
Both will come with MG's 10-year/250,000km warranty package.
Still to come is the pure-electric version of the new-generation ZS - the outgoing version of which was the car that really established MG in NZ, thanks partly to the now-defunct Clean Car Discount for battery electric vehicles.
