MG’s new small hatchback has been spied in Sydney ahead of a launch in the first half of 2023.
New MG5 will give the brand a rival for the likes of the Hyundai i30, Kia Cerato, Mazda3 And Toyota Corolla sedans. MG hasn’t occupied this segment since discontinuing its MG 6 in 2019.
The spied example features a red interior and a prominent Turbo badge on the trunk lid.
The MG 5 was approved for sale earlier this year with two powertrains listed in government documents seen by CarExpert.
One of them is a 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, which in China produces either 127kW of power and 275Nm of torque, or 133kW and 285Nm in the sportier-looking MG 5 Scorpio . In both cases, it is mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
The base atmo engine is also a 1.5 liter, with 88 kW and 150 Nm and a continuously variable transmission. This engine is also offered with a five-speed manual transmission in other markets, but this transmission did not appear on the homologation documents.
While government approval documents sometimes list variants that don’t end up going on sale, MG has previously confirmed that it plans to offer both naturally aspirated and turbocharged engines.
Although MG has previously indicated that it would source from Thailandwe now understand that it comes from China.
It also arrives later than expected. When the MG 5 was announced for Australia at the end of 2021, it had been planned for a launch at the end of 2022.
The unrelated MG 5 electric wagon, offered in Europe, has been excluded, leaving EV functions to the existing ZS EV and future MG 4 small sedan.
The latter is expected here in the second half of this year.
At 4675mm from nose to tail, the MG 5 is 45mm longer than the Corolla and 14mm shorter than a Skoda Octavia ascent. That puts it at the wider end of the small car segment.
The Chinese-market MG 5 features a 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system and a standard 3.5-inch instrument cluster display and an available 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, while the Scorpio has a restyled interior with two 12.3-inch screens located in the same assembly. .
In contrast, MG specs a 10-inch touchscreen and a 7.0-inch instrument cluster display in the Thai market MG 5.
A full suite of active safety and driver assistance technologies are available, including autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic and a surround view camera.
While sedan sales are declining every year now, the MG 5 will nevertheless give the new top 10 sales an extra boost and probably undermine all competitors.
MG currently only sells one passenger car in Australia: the aging one but selling very well MG3 tailgate. THE SZ SUV family, including electric ZS EVis Australia’s best-selling small SUV, while the SH carved out a chunk of the mid-size SUV segment.
On the other hand, it has the slightly larger second-generation MG 6 in China, as well as a new mid-size sedan called the MG7. That gives MG more passenger cars than SUVs in its home market.
The company confusingly sells two different vehicles globally as the MG 5: the new sedan, which entered production in 2020, and the aforementioned Chinese-market based electric wagon Roewe ei5.
MG’s latest foray into the Australian small car segment was also among the most significant in the segment.
The MG 6 sedan and hatchback, nearly identical in size to the new MG 5, were introduced here as part of the Chinese-owned brand’s unsuccessful first launch in 2013, and the hatchback was part of the most successful relaunch of the brand in 2016.
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First generation MG 5 -
MG 6 Plus
With foundations dating back to the Rover 75, the MG 6 (later MG 6 Plus) was not as popular as the brand’s other models. Only 900 were sold between 2017 and 2019 when it was discontinued.
We didn’t get the first-generation MG 5 here, which was a small sedan sold in China from 2012 to 2018.
