MG News

The cost of electric cars is coming down at last and it’s happening fast, too, with big brands slashing prices.

MG has firmly established itself as a mainstream brand and it believes an influx of new products will help drive more growth and ward off fresh Chinese competition.

A short 15 years ago, the Hyundai Getz was available for as little as $12,990 drive-away, but the cheap end of the new-car market has nearly evaporated today. 

Australia’s most affordable new car has gone through a dramatic makeover.The new MG3 hatchback features a fresh design, oodles of safety tech, an updated cabin and the choice of hybrid power.Those updates don’t come cheap and the MG3 loses its crown as Australia’s cheapest new car with prices now starting at $23,990 (before on-road costs), which is a significant jump over the outgoing model’s $18,990 drive-away starting point.MG Australia boss Peter Ciao, said the new MG3 updates were significant.“The MG3 has been redesigned from the ground up and sets a new standard for hybrid and small petrol vehicles in Australia. MG has brought together a brilliant mix of affordability, range and quality for Australian drivers in the all-new MG3 range,” said Ciao.The MG3 comes with the choice of two engines: a 81kW/142Nm 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and a hybrid set-up that uses the same petrol engine combined with an electric motor to make 155kW. No combined torque figure is provided for the hybrid.Petrol versions use a CVT automatic and the hybrid uses what MG calls a “Hybrid Transmission”.The hybrid set-up cuts fuel use from 6.0L/100km in the petrol-only versions to a miserly 4.3L/100km.For comparison the MG3 Hybrid’s main rival is the Toyota Yaris, which drinks a claimed 3.3L/100km and its hybrid tech makes a combined 85kW and 141Nm. The Yaris is significantly more expensive than the MG3, though.Petrol and hybrid models are available in two trim grades: Excite and Essence.The MG3 petrol Excite is priced from $23,990, adding hybrid power costs an extra $4000.Essence petrol buyers can expect to pay from $25,990, and hybrid power ups the price to $29,990. The biggest change to the new MG3 is the inclusion of a wide range of active safety tech as standard across the range.The outgoing MG3 had none, but the new version has auto emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and lane keep assist.All MG3s have 16-inch alloy wheels. Petrol versions have a space saver spare, but the hybrid makes do with a tyre repair kit.Excite variants have halogen lights, cloth seats, a synthetic leather wrapped steering wheel and a mix of cloth and synthetic leather trims on the doors and centre console.The Essence grade boosts this with synthetic leather and cloth upholstery, leather steering wheel and LED headlights.They also have a sunroof, rain sensing wipers, keyless entry, sat nav and digital radio that the Excite dies without.Every MG3 has a 10.25-inch multimedia touchscreen that is compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. This is paired with a 7.0-inch digital driver display. 

MG is taking orders for its upcoming Cyberster, despite the car not having an official price-tag.

It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of new-model releases. Lately, product cycles have been getting ever shorter with China in particular’s immense speed of design, development and production eschewing traditional carmakers' usual six, seven or eight-year model replacements.But that doesn’t mean everyone wants the latest and greatest and, in Australia, there remains a huge appetite for familiar nameplates like the Mazda CX-3, MG3 and Nissan Patrol despite fresher models being available in the same class. In fact, until this year, the now nine-year-old Toyota HiLux has dominated sales charts. It’s taken the ‘T6.2’ Ford Ranger over a year to usurp Toyota’s ute despite its much newer cabin, more powerful engines and fresher tech. Even still, the Ranger held a slim 210 sale margin over the HiLux in May. It’s a little easier to imagine how ute buyers – those after a dependable, rugged vehicle with less concern for the latest and greatest – might be less interested in buying the newest model.Though the media expected the CX-30 to become Mazda’s new entry-level SUV, the plan all along was to sell them side by side. At 10 years old, the CX-3 is no spring chicken any more yet with 1300 sales in may it remains firmly ahead of the Yaris Cross and Hyundai Venue in the light SUV class. It is, amazingly, still more popular than the CX-30 (1010 sales in May) as well. Entry-level Pure leads the way as a first-car option that is bigger than a Mazda2 but not unwieldy. Safety features like AEB and collision warning feature and the CX-3 is a known quantity for both reliability and parts availability. MG is finally replacing the MG3 as it celebrates its 13th year on sale – such age is very rare in cars from China. In its final 31 days in dealerships as a ‘new’ model, 1077 MG3s were registered. This puts it leagues ahead of the Mazda2 and Toyota Yaris. The same vintage Mitsubishi ASX may not be quite as popular as a CX-3 (842 sales in May) though like the others in this list, the ASX is having a bumper year of over 5000 sales – up nearly 30 per cent on 2023. Nissan sold 622 Patrol off-roaders last month for 3274 year-to-date. That may be less than half of Toyota’s LandCruiser 300 Series volume but when you consider the basic design is 14 years old (and therefore cost is long since amortised), Nissan is doing very well. Like ASX, the Patrol’s sales are up for 2024 as well, by an impressive 46.3 per cent. Put that down to demand for the new rough-and-tumble Warrior model. We couldn’t write this article and ignore the oldest car on sale today in Australia. Celebrating its 40th year in production and continuing to sell incredibly is the 70 Series LandCruiser range. An iconic vehicle for Australians who buy more of these things than any other nation – mining fleet is a huge part but a renewed popularity with the off-road crowd helps, too.Toyota’s old fourby may not get another ANCAP test any time soon but the new four-cylinder turbo-diesel will extend its sales life further as emissions regulations take hold. There were 1096 sales of the LandCruiser 70 Series in May for a total of 5030 this year, not including Troop Carrier body styles. Its enduring popularity is unlikely to end soon, either, with the new downsized diesel carrying the ageing Toyota into its next decade of sales.

Australia's new-car market is set to "change dramatically", with the influx of Chinese brands, putting legacy car makers at real risk of failure.

The IM Motors L6 sedan is the first production electric car to use semi solid state batteries and its full, frankly astounding, statistics have been revealed at its China release. The massive 133kWh semi solid battery pack isn’t on sale now – it’ll arrive in October – provides a claimed 1000km of driving range in the CTLC protocol (equivalent to around 800km WLTP) and 400km of range added in 12 minutes of charging are very enticing. It’s not just big batteries, with SAIC-owned and Alibaba-backed IM Motors (a peer of MG) also touting its ‘Digital Lizard’ active chassis technology that got the sedan through the ‘Moose Test’ swerve and recover manoeuvre at 90.96km/h, faster than any other vehicle on record. The IM L6’s test results can’t be considered official, though.Popularised by Swedish outlet Teknikens Varld, the ISO standard stipulates the test must be completed with a full complement of passengers and luggage on board to be considered valid. The 1997 Citroen Xantia Activa’s 85km/h effort remains on top for now. IM’s active suspension tech is interesting though, said to offer ‘three axes’ of control including vertical (though there’s no literature to say it uses air springs). It appears to have active anti-roll bars, four-wheel steering and ESP functions integrated into a module said to aid response, stability and manoeuvrability – you can watch it in action hereSingle and twin motor variants of the IM Motors L6 will be offered in China with a range-topping L6 Max Super Performance variant features a 100kWh battery and twin ‘Hurricane’ motors for 579kW/800Nm, a 0-100km/h sprint in 2.74 seconds and Audi e-tron GT-beating top speed of 268km/h thanks to IM’s 21,000rpm motor speed.To give some context to the IM L6’s figures, here is how it stacks up against a BYD Seal sedan.At 4.9 metres long it’s bigger and pitched as a more luxurious option than the Seal - a BMW i5 M60 rival really – but this should help illustrate its figures. The L6 Max Lightyear will launch later with a 900V architecture and 133kWh semi solid state battery supplied by Qingtao (Kunshan) Energy Development Group.IM Motors is planning a European launch in 2025 with ambitions to compete with luxury brands such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.Australian plans are unclear but MG Australia, who would be the natural importer of the SAIC-owned IM brand, has shown an interest in the sedan and LS6 medium SUV previously as a Tesla Model Y rival. “The process is quite a complex process around why a specific variant is selected or not selected, so as we do with all our range, we will proactively work with our engineers locally and internationally as well as product, marketing, sales teams, dealer network and customer feedback to understand and cater our offering to their ongoing needs and wants", an MG spokesperson said.  Taking into account shipping, taxes and margins (rather than direct conversion), it’s possible the L6 line-up could be priced from around $70K for a long range single motor variant with the flagship 133kWh ‘Lightyear’ potentially under $100K if it does arrive.

Booming car maker MG has raised the prices of its MG4 electric hatchback.The Chinese maker started a tsunami of price cuts when it slashed the price of 2023 MG4 models in March.Those price cuts brought the price down to $39,990 drive-away for the entry-level MG4 51kWh Excite, which was a reduction of thousands.Now MG has lifted the price by $1000 for newer 2024-plated MG4s. The price remains lower than the pre-March drive-away figure and still undercuts the circa-$41,490 drive-away BYD Dolphin.The range-topping Xpower performance variant is the only exception with its price remaining at $59,990 drive-away.An MG spokesperson put the price rise on 2024 models down to increased cost of doing business.“Like other markets and industries, our costs are going up as are the costs to do business so it is only natural that the prices will have to follow that trend, however, we have made a conscious decision to absorb those costs for some models when and where possible.”Buyers can still get their hands on 2023 MG4s according to the brand with plenty of stock across most variants.A price war has been unfolding in the electric car market in the past few months with some makers offering massive discounts on their electric cars.BYD has knocked up to $8000 off 2023 Atto 3 demonstrators and Peugeot slashed $25,000 off the price of its e-2008 small electric SUV. Peugeot has since sold out of the e-2008 and it won't be on sale until an updated model has arrived.Nissan has lopped $16,000 off the price of its slow-selling Leaf electric hatchback.GWM cut thousands off the price of the Ora hatch to $35,990 drive-away, whic. makes it Australia’s cheapest EV.Renault has gotten in on the act too, slicing $10,000 off its Megane E-Tech small electric SUV, which only launched a few months ago.Tesla cut the price of the Model Y and 3 repeatedly in April.The Model Y is between $4500 and $8500 cheaper than it was in March and the Model 3 is between $3000 and $4000 more affordable.High-end makers aren't immune either. Lotus shaved $50,000 off the price of its Eletre luxury SUV before the first vehicles arrives in a few months. 

BYD importer EV Direct has dropped the price on selected versions of the higher-grade Atto 3 crossover electric vehicle (EV). Prices now start from just $45,990 drive-away for the Extended Range variant - excluding Western Australia (where it costs $2000 more) - down from $51,011 before on-road costs.