Next MG3 will be hybrid when it arrives in 2024

Australia’s top-selling light car, the MG3, will finally be replaced by an all-new – and all-hybrid – model next year, but it still won’t come with a five-star safety rating.

That’s according to MG Motor Australia and New Zealand CEO Peter Ciao, who confirmed the new MG3 – which is yet to be globally unveiled – will remain affordable despite the addition of an electrified powertrain.

However, it remains to been whether the second-generation city-hatch remains one of just two sub-$20,000 cars available in Australia (alongside the Kia Picanto), and exactly how much safety equipment is omitted to keep costs down.

The new MG5 was launched in June as Australia’s cheapest small sedan, but apart from a now-mandatory autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system it brings only a handful of active driver-assistance functions, making it unlikely to achieve a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating.

But it wouldn’t be the first small car to do so (think Hyundai i30 Sedan) and the new MG3 certainly won’t be the first MG to lack a top safety score.

First launched in Australia in 2016 but dating back to 2011 in China, the current MG3 remains ‘unrated’ by ANCAP, while the MG ZS (Australia’s most popular small SUV) has a four-star ANCAP rating from 2017.

While the new MG4 electric hatch recently became the first MG to achieve a five-star safety rating under ANCAP’s latest 2020-2022 testing regime, the MG HS mid-size SUV – MG’s only other current model – has a five-star rating based on ANCAP’s less stringent test regime in 2019.

Despite lacking a safety rating, the MG3 has been a critical model for MG in Australia, where it remains the Chinese brand’s second most popular model after 12 years and helped MG gain a foothold in terms of volume and awareness.

Speaking at the launch of the all-new MG4 EV this week, Ciao said the next MG3 will look vastly different to the current model, in line with the MG’s edgier new design theme, and would be one of four new models launched Down Under in 2024.

“2024 we have more models coming, not just MG4 and MG5 [this year],” he said.

“[There’s] the new generation MG3, new-generation HS [mid-size SUV] and one more SUV. And in quarter four, the Cyberster.”

carsales understands the all-new SUV will be a rebadged version of the IM LS6, a mid-size luxury electric SUV that will soon be launched in China by parent company SAIC Motor.

But even with two incoming models likely to stretch MG’s price range above $100,000 – the Cyberster and the mystery SUV – Ciao  says MG will continue to cater to Aussies at all price points.

“MG relaunched in Australia six years ago and we focussed on affordable price[s] under 20 [grand], under 30 [grand], but I always remind my whole team, that doesn’t mean MG is a cheap brand,” he said.

“MG, this brand has 100 years [of] history. This is a premium brand. This is a very, very good sport[y] brand. So, this brand, the price range, is very easy to get over 100,000 [dollars]. For MG brand, I don’t think that’s a challenge.”

Ciao wouldn’t be drawn on how much the battery-powered Cyberster sports car will cost, but described $100K-plus speculation as a “good forecast”.

Join the conversation at 

our Facebook page

Or email us at 

editor@carsales.com.au