MG model rollout shifts up a gear

It starts with a facelifted MG3 due within two months, followed by a new GS SUV around the middle of next year – and possibly the all-new MG6 (including a plug-in hybrid variant) nearer the end of 2019.

Danny Lenartic, MG’s Senior Manager for Marketing and Communications, told motoring.com.au in Shanghai yesterday that the updated MG3 would be launched first, as soon as August, followed by a model-year update for the small ZS SUV. But it's the other two vehicles that are the big news.

Lenartic says MG's svelte new MG6 mid-sizer is “under study” by the local distributor, which is “hopeful of a launch next year”.

The new model embraces the company's latest design language, which is shared with the X-Motion SUV concept and is labelled as “emotional dynamism” by design chief Shao Jingfeng.

The liftback sedan is powered by a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol four-cylinder, and there's a plug-in hybrid variant also, powered by a turbocharged 1.0-litre engine and driving through SAIC's super hush-hush EDU transmission technology.

Both the conventional MG6 and the eMG6 plug-in were driven by motoring.com.au earlier this week for a test day at the Tianma racing circuit outside Shanghai in China.

During a motorkhana session (on bitumen), the plug-in was prone to understeer – just as most front-wheel drives would in those circumstances.

It was a little faster getting away from standstill while the battery held sufficient charge, but once the day began to heat up (37 degrees) and battery charge plummeted, the eMG6 wasn't as quick in a straight line.

Around the racetrack proper, and with the battery recharged slightly, it felt quite a bit livelier. It was also much more composed, as was its conventional counterpart, through the bends.

SAIC, the parent company for MG, claims fuel consumption for the standard MG6 of 5.8L/100km and just 1.0L/100km for the plug-in version.

The plug-in model is reasonably well packaged, although there's a tyre repair kit under the shallow boot floor, to leave room for the electric drive elements.

With the rear seats folded for more luggage space, the boot floor is actually higher than the seat backs at rest. According to the manufacturer, models benchmarked against the MG6 included the Honda Civic and BMW 3 Series.

Lenartic says Aussie dealers are collectively keen to have the new MG6 go on sale in Australia.

“We actually asked them: 'Do you want the MG6 to come to Australia?' and they absolutely said yes.”

According to the MG spokesman, those same dealers – at the Beijing motor show – “were salivating at the X-Motion”, which, confusingly, will be badged in other markets as the MG XS, but Lenartic tells us will replace the current GS and will likely retain the GS name in Australia.

It's planned for the production GS to arrive here during either the second or third quarter of next year. A plug-in hybrid version will follow at some later, unspecified date.

In between, a mildly updated ZS model will introduce a portrait-style infotainment screen and telematics. That's provisionally scheduled for the first quarter of next year. A battery-electric ZS will come on stream after that, and may make it to Australia.

The MG3 gets a power and torque boost – up from 78kW and 137Nm for the current manual version to 88kW and 150Nm for the facelifted model, which will be sold exclusively in automatic form.

No fuel consumption figures are available for the car as yet, but given the automatic is a tried-and-true four-speed unit, it's unlikely to be as economical as the 5.8L/100km figure for the manual MG3.

Being a facelift means the MG3 won't be retested by Euro NCAP for crash safety – leaving the upgraded model soldiering on with a three-star rating, which was unexceptional back in 2014, let alone four years later.

“At the moment it hasn't been retested, because it's just a facelift,” Lenartic acknowledges, “so that'll carry three stars.”

MG is more or less committed to purging manuals from the range in Australia, according to Lenartic.

“I believe so, yes,” he replied to the question posed by motoring.com.au. “That's the plan at the moment.

“Just coming out of [our] experience with the old MG6s and MG3; there's still a market for manual [transmissions], but in terms of where we want to be as a [sales] volume player, we know that it needs to be within the automatic space.”