MG's ongoing global rise (or recovery, depending on your perspective) continues with the unveiling of their first ever ute; the Extender.
The Extender inserts itself into the busy medium-size pick-up space, where it'll battle against rivals like the Nissan Navara, Ford Ranger, and Holden Colorado. It's yet to be confirmed whether it'll come to New Zealand, but expect sharp pricing if it does.
Now, if you're looking at the MG Extender and saying to yourself “now, that looks familiar” — then, you'd be right.
The Extender is a direct cousin to the LDV T60 — a ute that launched to the New Zealand market a couple of years ago in double-cab and single-cab formats.
Read more: Can David take on Goliath? We test the LDV T60 pick-up
Both LDV and MG are owned by the same Chinese company; SAIC. And, fun fact, a third version of the ute called the Maxus T70 is also sold in Asia under the SAIC brand.
For now, the main market the Extender is confirmed for is Thailand (where it will also be built). From launch it will be available with a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel four-popper making 120kW of power an 375Nm of torque.
The same engine is also available in a more powerful twin-turbo 160kW/480Nm format, but that's yet to be confirmed for the Extender — as potent as it'd be.
For reference, the LDV T60 that we get in New Zealand comes with a 2.8-litre turbo-diesel that makes 110kW of power and 360Nm of torque.
One of the elements of its LDV T60 cousin that impressed us when we road tested it at the beginning of last year was the amount of standard equipment. And predictably this is also one of the Extender's main selling points.
It comes with lane-departure warning, leather with red contrast stitching, a (familiar) 10-inch touch screen, a reversing camera, heated seats, and LED headlights straight off the bat in its most premium model.
