MG New Zealand has confirmed the all-new HS medium SUV revealed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed is heading our way.
That makes it a pretty short stay for the outgoing car, which was only launched here in 2021. The new model looks substantially more modern and picks up the toothy-grin frontal styling of the latest MG3; but behind the smile it's heavily based on the Chinese-market Roewe RX5 SUV. Roewe is a more upmarket China-only luxury brand from parent company SAIC (the name is derived from its purchase of Rover technology back in 2005), whose products are sometimes sold in export markets with MG branding.
The new HS is 26mm longer and 14mm wider than the current car, but also 30mm lower thanks to a sleeker roofline. The wheelbase has been lengthened by 30mm to 2750mm, in the interests of increasing passenger space. The boot has also grown by 44 litres to 507l.
A single interior image released by MG amounts to little more than a teaser, but it shows a dual-screen dashboard layout that we'll guess is comprised of two 12.3in displays. Because they're almost always 12.3in; that's the number.
MG NZ has released precisely no information about powertrains for the new model, but in the UK (where the SUV made its debut) the entry 1.5-litre turbo engine has been boosted by 6kW to 125kW, while the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) model has had a major boost in electric power, to make over 220kW combined and give an EV range of 120km from its enlarged 25kWh battery.
It's also understood a non-plug-in hybrid version will follow in 2025.
The current Kiwi-spec HS makes 119kW in petrol form and 138kW combined as a PHEV, with EV range of 63km. Australian publications are also speculating that the ICE version may offer an additional 2.0-litre turbo engine option.
