MG’s new electric hatchback – expected to be called the MG 4 – has been teased in a short video released on the company’s press site.
The MG 4 will be a rival to cars like the Volkswagen ID.3 and Nissan Leaf although, in time honoured MG tradition, you can expect it to be a lot cheaper to buy. We’re expecting it to cost from around £25,000 – including the government's £1500 plug-in grant – when it’s revealed towards the end of the year.
So what can you expect? Well, the video shows a car draped in a silk cover that gets caught by the wind to reveal hints of a sharp front end, a shapely profile and rear that has what seemingly every new EV needs – a light bar that stretches across the breadth of the boot. Joining the dots, the MG 4 is already shaping up to be one of the best looking MGs we’ve seen since the car makerM fell into SAIC ownership in 2007.
The car will be similar in size to the Volkswagen ID.3 so expect the MG 4 to have room for four people and a boot that’ll deal with monthly shop or a fortnight's holiday. Expect the cabin to feel well put together, relative to its keen pricing, and to come stacked full of equipment including a large infotainment screen with Apple Carplay and Android Auto fitted.
The MG 4 is likely to get the same powertrains fitted to the MG 5 electric estate. It comes in two flavours – standard spec and Long Range.
The standard MG 5 has a 50.3kWh battery and a 177PS motor which is good for a range of 200 miles and acceleration of 0-62mph in less than 10 seconds.
The Long Range model actually has less power in the name of range. Its combination of a 156PS motor and 61.1kWh battery means it can go more than 250 miles from a charge, although expect a slight drop off in acceleration.
Charging the MG 4’s battery from 5-80 per cent is expected to take as little as 40 minutes using a DC public charger.
We’ll bring you more news on the new MG 4 as soon as we have it.
