MG has revealed its incoming MG4 fully electric hatch in Australia at the Fully Charged Live expo in Sydney.
The MG4 has been long-awaited as MG’s next major offering, a roughly Toyota Corolla-sized hatchback which debuts a new platform for MG, as well as a new styling language and new software inside.
MG has not revealed expected pricing yet, but did confirm the MG4 will arrive in several variants with two battery sizes.
The base battery will be a 51kWh unit, providing around 350km of range between charges, while an upper-sized 64kWh battery will allow an extended driving range of around 450km.
The brand said it had yet to land on names for each of the car’s variants, but said to expect several trim levels, with an approximation of a base car shown at the show, as well as a high-spec version.
Key differences between the two include seat trim – cloth in the base car, cloth and synthetic leather in the top-spec car. The base car also lacked the exterior treatment of the premium example, which included a spoiler and additional contrasting trim pieces.
Like the ZS EV, the MG4 will be manufactured in Shanghai. Its new ‘Nebula’ platform is a scalable and modular architecture, which will be the basis for more EVs going forward.
MG also noted it had strong interest from fleet buyers, as the MG4 has secured a maximum five-star safety rating from Euro NCAP.
However, launch timing for the highly anticipated hatch has been shifted back slightly, to the second half of the year. It was initially due before the end of the first half. MG is yet to announce pricing, but interestingly said it isn’t interested in making the MG4 as much of a price leader as the standard range ZS EV was when it launched late last year.
“Cheapest is not necessarily our appetite” said Rick Wade, general manager of marketing at MG, “It’s good to have sibling rivalry [between the ZS and MG4] but we’re still working on what that final line-up will look like.”
The brand did promise that both battery variants of the MG4 would arrive at the same time, unlike the ZS EV which only just received its long range variant this month, some six months after the arrival of the standard range.
The long range ZS EV wears a before-on-roads price-tag of $55,990, a significant hike over the $43,990 entry price of the standard range, but offers a range increased from 320km to 440km.
Other details we know of the hatch from its overseas specification includes a 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster, a 10.25-inch multimedia touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity plus a 363-litre boot.
Standard range versions have a charging capacity of 117kW, while long range versions up that to 135kW. This should allow charging speeds from 10-80 per cent in roughly half an hour on a compatible charger, or on a more common 50kW DC charger, times of 40 minutes for the standard range or 60 minutes for the long range.
MG confirmed the 4 will be available in seven colours, including white, black, blue, silver, grey, and the hero colour, orange. Expect it to maintain the brand’s current seven-year and unlimited kilometre warranty.
MG said pricing and final variant details would be revealed closer to the launch window, which for now is vaguely in the second half of 2023.
Expressions of interest are open now, and MG said the delay in the hatch’s arrival was down to limited production capacity from the factory.
Keyword: 2023 MG4 detailed: New details emerge about new electric hatch range as MG predicts big surge in interest