This is the MG Concept 5, a Focus-sized five-door hatchback designed in the UK and making its debut at the 2011 Shanghai motor show.
MG 5…so it’s smaller than the new MG 6, I take it?
Yes. The MG 6 is larger than the traditional family hatchback class, competing on a similar ‘more-for-less’ proposition to the Skoda Octavia. But the MG 5 is a more contemporary design.
The MG Concept 5’s styling is influenced by the 2010 MG Zero supermini, particularly with its LED headlight treatment and the linking of headlight clusters to the MG badge and air intake. The car was designed at MG’s Longbridge studio, under SAIC Motor design director Tony Williams-Kenny.
There are no immediate production plans for the MG 5, but MG currently has a gap in its product range between the MG 3 supermini and MG 6 that a production version of this car could eventually fill.
What’s next for MG?
The MG 6 has just gone on sale in the UK, with the first demonstrator cars being issued to MG dealers at a ceremony on 14 April 2011.
An MG UK dealer delegation is being hosted by SAIC at the 2011 Shanghai motor show. Amongst future plans mentioned to the dealer group were a compact crossover hatchback in 2014, and a growing technology partnership with SAIC partner, General Motors.
This could lead to sharing of small capacity petrol engines, and an MG 7 (the old Rover 75/MG ZT) replacement based on GM’s Epsilon II platform, which underpins the Chevrolet Malibu, Vauxhall Insignia and Saab 9-5.
Last but certainly not least, we hear word of a possible rear-wheel drive sports car, ‘evoking the spirit of the MGB’ after 2016. This news nugget is best served with a grain or few of salt…