What’s this car all about then?
IM (“Intelligence in Motion”) is MG’s premium-car brand. And not technically MG at all in China, where it stands as a very separate thing; it’s actually a joint venture between MG’s parent company SAIC and global e-commerce giant Alibaba (launched back in 2020).
So you won’t see the MG octagon anywhere on these cars, although they do wear an “MG Motor” script on the tailgate for some export destinations, including New Zealand.
IM has badge all its own: a minimalist thing that's intended to be a stylised representation of 0-1 binary code, embodying the digital future of the brand. So now you know.
For a small market like ours, where MG is one of the more established Chinese brands in a fast-developing environment, expect the connection to be much more in the foreground. So it’s officially “IM Presented by MG Motor” for Kiwi buyers.
The launch model for NZ is the IM6, which we could dance about in a number of ways or just clarify quickly by saying it’s a Tesla Model Y kinda thing. Yeah, you get it.
This is not really an MG: IM is a joint venture between MG’s parent company SAIC and global e-commerce giant Alibaba.
It won’t surprise you to learn that the IM6 is all about tech: both hardware and software. It’s pure-electric across the board, with three different powertrains featuring in three different models.
Features such as 4-wheel steering (including a “crab” function for getting out of parks a tiny bit sideways), Intelligent Comfort Stop, automatic parking that goes every-which-way and can pull you out again, and Touch ID Reverse (it can retrace up to 100m backwards automatically) are all standard.
The top two models can charge at up to 396kWh - not that any DC stations in NZ can currently deliver that much.
The camera setup can do everything from replace the interior rearvision mirror (you can even fold the physical mirror away completely) to creating an “invisible” A-pillar to improve visibility in city driving... or in Rainy Night Mode, which is indeed a thing in this car.
Those camera functions are why IM says it’s gone for the widescreen layout across the dashboard, rather than a Tesla-style single centre display: stuff that’s happening on the right-side of the car can be displayed to the right of the driver, left on the left.
It’s pretty nifty in U-turn terms, with the back wheels swivelling up to 6deg in the opposite direction to the front at low speed.
The IM6 is not the most elegant-looking thing, but it’s more attractive in the metal. And some of those styling features, like the curvaceous front guards, are quite nice to look at from the cabin.
The real looker of the lineup is the IM5, which is a low-slung 5-door. That’s not part of the range for NZ, but MG does offer it in Australia. And judging from a couple of conversations we had at IM launch events last week, it might well be on the way.
How much is it?
There are three IM6 models: $66,990 Premium, $77,900 Platinum and $89,990 Performance. The Premium and Platinum are both rear-drive, making 217kW/450Nm and 300kW/500Nm respectively, with ranges of 450km and 555km.
The key difference is battery technology. The Premium has a 75kWh LFP battery, while the Platinum is fed by a 100kWh NMC unit. The former will charge at a maximum rate of 153kW, but the latter can handle up to 396kWh (not that any DC stations in NZ can currently deliver that much).
The flagship Performance’s dual motors make 200kW/302Nm (front) and 372kW/500Nm (rear), propelling it to 100km/h in just 3.4 seconds (Premium 6.1, Platinum 5.4). It shares the same 100kWh battery with the Platinum, albeit with a little less range: 505km.
The other key feature for the Performance is Advanced Air Suspension with the awkwardly named Continuously Control Damping (CCD) function.
The suspension has 5 levels of adjustment within a 70mm range. It can raise 20mm for off-tarmac, drop 15mm above 90km/h or 30mm above 120km/h (not sure about that for NZ driving) or up to 30mm at the rear for easier loading.
The trick suspension is standard on the Performance, but you can also add it to the Platinum for $5500.
What’s it like to drive?
Don’t expect the last word on how the IM6 drives here. Our time behind the wheel was limited to a quick 10km run (urban and motorway) in the Performance as part of a two-day MG launch-event for IM and the U9 ute. We’ve got a car coming for the traditional week-long review before the end of the year.
We can tell you it’s smooth-with-a-capital-S. It’s quiet anyway because it’s electric of course, but the IM6 also uses active noise cancellation in the cabin to eliminate as much road noise as possible.
The ADAS stuff can be intrusive, but IM has provided a shortcut to turn the worst of it off. Almost everything’s in the screen, as it often is these days, but you can go straight to climate functions with a 2-finger swipe on the console display.
It’s pretty nifty in U-turn terms, with the back swivelling up to 6 degrees in the opposite direction to the front at low speed. The 4-wheel steer helps with higher-speed (over 60km/h) lane-changes too, with all wheels turning the same way. That’s where the special low-speed “crab” function also comes in: you can force the rears to turn the same way as the front at low speed, meaning you can slip semi-sideways away from the kerb or through tight spots.
A bit of down-time at a swapover point also gave us the chance to try the automatic parking. It’s dead-easy to operate: tell the car to look with one touch and it will find what’s available using the camera system (reverse, kerbside, whatever… it doesn’t matter). Give it the okay and the car does the rest. It’s excellent.
What’s the pick of the range?
Great question. We can’t really say, because we only drove the Performance, and only for a very short distance.
But given the focus on comfort and tech with the IM6, we can’t help but think the Platinum looks like the sweet spot. We’re not convinced the IM6 really needs to go that fast, and the ability to add the Adaptive Air Suspension/CCD to the Platinum makes it even more appealing.
What other cars should I consider?
The Tesla Model Y ($67,900-$100,900). We’ve also just driven the revised Ford Mustang Mach-E ($74,990-$116,990), which has a similar of mainstream and super-fast models.
But it makes sense that the IM6 will appeal the most to buyers looking at other new electric SUVs out of China with a performance/tech focus: think Zeekr 7X ($69,990-$94,990) or the forthcoming XPeng G6.