► MG’s retro-inspired SUV concept at Goodwood
► Previews the company’s emerging design language
► And it has pop-up headlights! Just like an old Ferrari!
MG has had an interesting comeback. The brand has been around for more than a century, having forged its reputation with its sports cars. But when it was bought out by the Chinese automotive conglomerate SAIC in 2006, it evolved into a purveyor of sensible, reasonably priced family hatchbacks and SUVs.
For MG’s design department, that must be quite dull. Family cars are far less interesting to draw than lightweight cabriolets – so, occasionally, the company likes to give its designers a bit of freedom. The last time this happened, we got the MG Cyberster electric sport car. This time round, we’ve got the Cyber X SUV.
The Cyber X might look like a real car from a distance, but once you get up close you realise it’s just a polycarbonate shell on wheels. That’s because its job is to preview MG’s future design direction rather than lay the foundations for a finished motor. It appeared on MG’s Goodwood Festival of Speed stand alongside the Tesla-rivalling IM5 and IM6.
The new MG Cyber X looks… interesting
It does, in a strangely conformist sort of way. There’s a lot of nostalgia sloshing around the car industry right now, which is motivating a huge push towards retro design. Just look at cars like the Renault 4, Kia EV9, Hyundai Santa Fe and Ineos Grenadier.
To my eye, the boxy lines of this MG concept seem to mash together elements of the old Ford Bronco and Land Rover Defender, with a dash of the Mercedes G-Wagen thrown in for good measure. But MG’s design department has chucked in a further nod to the past.
It also has pop-up headlights like a Lamborghini Diablo. I’ll say it again for the folk sleeping at the back. MG has revived the pop-up headlight. They might be utterly miniscule, they might never get past pedestrian crash-safety regulations and they might look completely out of place on this tall-riding SUV, but I welcome their return.
Will MG make the Cyber X into a production car?
MG is still being rather coy about whether the Cyber X will roll down its production lines. As I said, there are still question marks over the legality of those pop-up headlights and how the car will slot into the company’s range. However, Guy Pigounakis, MG UK’s Commercial Director, told me he’s incredibly keen to get car off the drawing board and onto driveways.
He said: ‘If it was down to me, yes. It’s not, clearly. There’s got to be proper assessments. I am just one opinion in that. You know, whether you think something is absolutely fantastic, you’ve got to do the analysis to make sure that you’re not just commissioning something that you personally like. But would I have that car tomorrow? Absolutely.’
Guy’s reservations are sensible. But the thing is, MG has a knack for making its concept cars real. Take the Cyberster as an example. Its turnaround from show car to showroom was a mere two years – a fact Pigounakis was more than happy to recognise.
He said: ‘That car today is purely a concept, which is disappointing a lot of people because they want to hear that it’s a prototype and it’s about to go in production. Today it’s not. But we do have the ability to turn a prototype into a production car astonishingly quickly. Yeah, very quickly.’
Encouraging. As is the fact MG has obviously thought about how it would market an eventual production model. David Allison, MG’s head of product and planning, told me: ‘We would sell a Cyber X-style product to someone that wouldn’t buy a ZS hybrid.’ Meaning, someone who’s looking for a more expensive-feeling product.
‘We’re in this business to sell volume, to make money,’ he said. ‘Our dealers are in this business to do exactly the same thing. For me, it’s always important that every time we bring a new product to market, there is a clear and defined customer to whom we’re going to sell that car to. I can absolutely see that with those two cars down there [the IM5 and IM6]. I can definitely see that for that car down there [the Cyber X].’
The market in question is more premium than what MG has already carved out for itself – and it’s something the brand is testing with the £50,000 IM5 and IM6. And to prevent any confusion with its more affordable cars, Allison suggested that MG could split its Cyber-badged models off into a distinct premium silo in the same way BYD has with its more expensive sister brand, Denza.
So, is it electric? Or could it have a petrol engine?
That’s one thing MG is still sitting on the fence about. When quizzed on powertrains and platforms, Allison said: ‘I think, again, that’s a commercial decision. It’s difficult, isn’t it? Because if you’re going to do it as an EV, you’d have to do it off an EV platform, which wouldn’t necessarily work from a combustion engine point of view. I suppose a lot of it will be dictated by where it is sold.
‘I think if you sell it in China, EV is the obvious place to go. If you sell it in Europe, hybrid at the moment is the obvious place to go. Particularly in lots of European markets where EV is nowhere near as proficient as it is, even in the UK, which is still only 23–24% of the market. So, yeah, if we did it, that would still be a decision we’d need to make.’
Interesting times ahead for MG, then. Stay tuned for more news.