CARS OF THE WORLD

MG5 Electric 2023.

The only battery-powered «shed»: MG5 Electric enters the European market.

The British brand MG which is a part of the Chinese automobile concern SAIC has revealed details about the compact electric station wagon MG5 Electric for the market in continental Europe.

Sales will start in March and the MG5 Electric will have no direct competition for at least a year.

MG brand went to the Chinese in 2005 after the collapse of MG Rover Group: the former British manufacturer of light sports cars switched to the production of mass Chinese consumer goods after which its presence in Europe has long been limited to the historic homeland, that is, the UK.

In 2019, on the wave of general electric car hysteria, the MG Motor Europe division was formed for an offensive on the mainland.

The active phase of that offensive began in 2021, when the plug-in hybrid crossover MG EHS was joined by the revamped MG ZS compact battery-powered parkcar and the flagship MG Marvel R Electric crossover.

The fourth model — MG5 Electric — was announced back in March last year with the promise of launching sales in October, but somewhat delayed — the market launch was postponed to March 2022.

MG5 Electric is actually a redesigned Chinese Roewe Ei5 (brand Roewe officially not represented in Europe), which in 2021 has gone through a restyling.

In the UK is still selling the pre-styled station wagon, and for the mainland prepared an updated version, with a more elegant exterior design and a completely new interior.

At the same time in China there is already a completely new coupe-like sedan MG5 , which has not yet reached Europe.

MG5 Electric is presented as the only electric station wagon in Europe, which is true — none of the competitors have «electric cars» with such body yet, all are focused on crossovers (in fact, the same station wagon, only slightly elevated).

The nearest analogues are expected in 2023 from Stellantis Corporation — they are battery-powered Opel Astra-e Sports Tourer and Peugeot e-308 SW. MG, therefore, has all the chances to take the cream off the niche that has not yet been occupied.

The MG5 Electric has been significantly corrected in comparison with the last year’s announcement.

Actual overall length — 4600 mm, width — 1818 mm, height — 1543 mm, wheelbase — 2659 mm.

Volume of the trunk — 479 liters, with folded rear seats — 1367 liters. Curb weight — 1562 kg.

Powertrain has two options, both involve a single electric motor on the front axle.

In the Standard Range version it provides 130 kW (177 hp) and 280 Nm and comes with a 50.3 kWh battery with a full charge capacity of 320 kilometers on the WLTP cycle.

In the Long Range version the maximum power is reduced to 115 kW (156 hp) with the same torque, the battery capacity is increased to 61.1 kWh and range in WLTP — up to 400 km.

Acceleration to 100 km/h in both cases takes 8.3 s, maximum speed — 185 km/h. The maximum charging power is only 87 kW.

There is a 2.2 kW household socket on board for charging household appliances, electric scooters and other small mobility aids.

The basic equipment Comfort is quite rich: there is a set of electronic driver’s assistants MG Pilot (adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping system, blind spot monitoring, etc.), air conditioning, fully LED «optics», heated seats, rearview camera, virtual 7-inch dashboard, multimedia system with a 10.25-inch touchscreen and navigation, audio system with six speakers, four USB-ports and much more.

Prices in Germany — from 35,490 euros to 38,490 euros without taking into account government subsidies, with them the burger can become the happy owner of a Chinese battery «shed» for 25 920 euros already.

For comparison, the most affordable electric Volkswagen ID.3 hatchback now costs in Germany from 36,960 euros (without subsidies).

Last year MG sales in Europe (including the UK) amounted to 52,546 cars, three times more than in 2020.

Of that volume, 21,946 came from continental Europe (in 2020 there were 7,200 cars).

This year, total sales in Europe should reach 150 thousand cars — not the fact that it will work, but we’ll see.

In 2024 MG brand plans to return to the production of sports cars, the first should be a production version of last year’s Cyberster concept.