Chinese luxury brand's new hybrids for Oz: MG's IM Motors confirms plans to introduce radical new range-extender vehicles to Australia in 2026 to challenge Zeekr, Omoda, and BYD's Denza

MG’s luxury brand, IM Motors, will ditch its all-electric beginning to embrace the hottest new technology on the market.

Plug-in hybrids have become the fastest growing powertrain type in Australia, as both car makers and customers take advantage of its fuel efficiency benefits. Despite launching with the all-electric IM5 sedan and IM6 SUV, IM Motors has confirmed it will bring its range extended electric vehicles to Australia later this year.

Range extended electric vehicles, or Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) as IM prefers to refer to them as, combine a bigger battery than a conventional hybrid and use the internal combustion engine as a generator to charge the battery rather than drive the wheels directly.

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Speaking to CarsGuide, Steven Xu, IM Motors Region General Manager for Asia Pacific, confirmed that this new tech is headed our way as part of an expanded line-up.

“ We have more models, and different energy styles,” Xu said. “I think the EREV definitely, the extended range [EV]. So not only pure electric, the [range extender], like just a kind of hybrid.

“We have very big battery and a very big tank, and the combined range is over 1000km. It's more suitable for the Australian scenario.”

In China, the IM REEV system pairs a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine with two electric motors and a sizable 65.9kWh battery, which is bigger than some fully electric cars.

2026 MG IM LS9

In the LS9 large SUV, the company claims the range-extender can provide up to 308km of pure-electric driving and more than 1500km of total driving range; although that is based on the more lenient China Light-duty Test Cycle (CLTC), rather than the WLTP benchmark. Fuel consumption is rated at just 2.0L/100km despite being a big luxury SUV, so the economic benefits of a range extended EV are obvious.

While Xu wouldn’t reveal which models will debut the technology in Australia, only saying: “I think we will release the information later.”

However, the LS8 and LS9 SUVs seem like the obvious candidates, as both are available with IM’s range-extender powertrain in China and the addition of two larger SUVs would strengthen the brand’s position as a premium brand in this market.

2026 MG IM LS9

The tech-laden LS9 is the flagship of the range, available with a three-row, six-seat layout for maximum comfort. Its powertrain features a front motor making 165kW and the two rear motors producing 195kW each, while the engine is capable of producing 114kW to power the battery.

According to information from China, the LS8 features the same 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine combined with an electric motor on each axle. In China it’s available with either a 52.1kWh or 65.9kWh battery, which provide either 268km or 335km of electric-only driving range (on the CLTC cycle).