All-electric city car to follow battery-powered small SUV from MG
An all-electric city car is on the radar for MG Australia as it looks to build a full portfolio of EV models.
The battery-powered small car would easily be the cheapest EV in Australia, with a sub-$30,000 price tag, from a company that has already set the value benchmark with the MG ZS EV small SUV (pictured).
A pre-sale of the MG ZS EV at $46,990 drive-away has just closed.
And although MG is refusing to make a commitment to the final showroom sticker price, the electric ZS could claim the mantle of Australia’s cheapest EV from the Hyundai IONIQ Electric, which currently sets the bar at $48,970 plus on-road costs.
“The electric line-up is what excites us. Our electrification ability is impressive,” MG Australia’s market and product director Danny Lenartic told carsales.
“That’s a position where SAIC will stand up as an OEM and a manufacturer. We’re already well on the way.”
SAIC is the Chinese parent of the born-again MG brand and Lenartic says the car-maker is working on a wide range of future electric models.
“There will be a need for something smaller, lighter, simpler, around the city,” he said, emphasising that city cars are a key pillar for MG’s electric future.
“I think the proliferation of electrification is on our doorstep and, as a business, we’ve put in a lot of effort towards focusing on that. It’s plug-in hybrid and full-electric, so then the line-up can be manipulated to wherever the market demand is going.
“Getting the right specification in the SUV line-up is first and we already have it. The second thing is electrification and the sustainability model.
“I don’t want to be compartmentalised. We don’t want EVs over here and ICE [internal combustion] engines over here. It needs to become part of the mainstream narrative.”
Lenartic said the small MG electric car would be about the same size as the MG3 hatch, which is priced from $16,690 drive-away, but it’s unclear whether it will be based on Australia’s top-selling light car so far this year or an all-new model.
His EV view follows a delay in local deliveries for the ZS EV, MG Australia’s first fully-electric model, because of a battery upgrade, and a firm commitment to launch a plug-in hybrid version of the larger MG HS in the first quarter of next year, probably as part of a facelift for the mid-size SUV.
The lithium-ion battery in the MG ZS EV was considered marginal on cooling for the Middle East and a development program to improve the performance has been rolled into the cars that will come to Australia.
“The Middle East is obviously extremely hot and had a requirement put through the product team. SAIC decided if it was doing it for the Middle East they might as well do it for other hot markets,” Lenartic said.
“It’s not structural. I believe it’s the cooling. We’re not sure yet on the exact changes.”
Initial testing of the car in Australia has been running since February, but not with the hot-weather update.
“We’ve done evaluation of the UK-specification car here. I believe it’s a lot more robust than that. The challenge is the real-world distance, and how you manage that,” he said.
The 44.5kWh battery pack offers a range of 262km under the WLTP test program but Lenartic says MG Australia has seen 270km in real-world testing Down Under.
The only limitation on the car is a reduction of MG Australia’s normal seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty to seven years and 130,000km.
Lenartic says the pre-sale program for the MG ZS EV has worked well, although he is not getting into detail on numbers.
“We’re closing the offer now. The quota has been met. I don’t want to divulge the number,” he said.
“We set ourselves a goal and we met that number. Combined, for Australia and New Zealand, a couple of hundred is the number. Because of supply, we don’t want customers waiting too long.”
While the talk at MG is currently focused on electrification, the brand is drawing closer to the top 10 brands on the sales charts and Lenartic says cracking the top 10 is one of the company’s targets.
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“Absolutely, top 10 is a clear goal. But it has to be sustainable. We’ve seen others get there, but then fall out,” he said.
“To be top 10 we’ve got to have the right model line-up. Our position is a lot of car for the money, with a warranty to back it up. So people can get beyond the [Chinese] origin.
“There are enough people out there that know the country of origin. Now we have brand fans that are proud of that.”
Apart from the plug-in hybrid version of the MG HS in the first quarter of next year, Lenartic says MG Australia is looking for extra models to join the local line-up.
“We have to have more cars. We’re a growing brand,” he said at this week’s launch of the more upmarket new MG ZST small SUV.
“The MG5 [small car] has just been unveiled in Shanghai. That’s an exciting car and we’re evaluating that. But we’re not sure if it’s a 2021 car.”
Keyword: MG planning Australia’s cheapest EVs