What is it?
The latest addition to MG Motor’s range is important for two reasons: primarily because it’s the first electric estate car to go on sale in Europe, and secondly because it will play a vital role in helping the 12-year-old brand to achieve a 50% plug-in car model mix in 2021.
Based on parent company SAIC’s Roewe Ei5 - a big seller in its Chinese home market - the MG 5 SW EV arrives in electric form only. Unlike its MG ZS sibling, MG bosses deemed the potential European market for a petrol-powered estate to be too small to make its import worthwhile. The brand is quickly transitioning away from combustion power, having shunned diesel some years ago and ushered in a new plug-in version of its HS SUV alongside the 5.
Even before the 5 and HS PHEV arrive in dealerships, MG already has the highest proportional plug-in sales mix of any mainstream car maker with a combustion offering, the MG ZS EV accounting for 27% of its UK sales. The 5 will play a lead role in the brand’s journey to an all-electric future, working alongside the higher-riding model to bring affordability to a segment that remains predominantly occupied by luxury SUVs, saloons and sports cars.
Brand boss Daniel Gregorious acknowledges that estate car sales have suffered in recent years as buyers flock en masse to higher-riding SUVs, but said that MG is “pioneering a new wave”, with the 5 bringing superior aerodynamics and better handling.
Like its ZS EV sibling, the 5 comes in entry-level Excite trim - from £24,995 - and better-equipped Exclusive trim at £26,995. This puts it roughly on par with similar-sized, conventionally fuelled cars like the Skoda Octavia in range-topping SE L trim and the Ford Focus Estate Titanium, while undercutting its closest electric rivals, the Nissan Leaf and Kia e-Niro, by around £5000.
MG expects half of all 5s sold to go to fleet buyers, with its 0% BIK rating giving a not-inconsiderable edge over its combustion contemporaries, and highlights its 578-litre boot and practical rear seats as an incentive for families on a budget to make the switch to electric.
Join the debate
Add your comment
Ignore China at your peril. Europe has been talking the talk about EVs for years, and China just gets on with it. Not a perfect car by any means but an estate car with a WLTP range of 214 miles should appeal to quite a few.
Quick look at pricing (December 2020) and a brand new model at £21K is £8K cheaper than an ex-demo 6,000 mile Peugeot 2008. Add another £1k for the posh MG version.
No its not an "MG" but and a bit of an anonymous box, but then so is a lot of other stuff nowadays.
Pity it’s not made in England
If only the B,air government had saved Rover/MG as the French government invested in Peugeot, and look how well the French manufacturer is doing.
I have a newish diesel estate car and already less than two years old it had had a turbo problem.
will buy electric next time, and this MG5 is top of my list for the following reasons
1.no standing at smelly diesel forecourts in terrible weather
2. no turbo to go wrong
3. no EGR valve to clog up
4.no injectors to replace
5. no DPF
6. no Dual Mass Flywheel
7. no diesel filter to change
The list goes on and on. I have had it with fossil fuelled cars
5.
MG5
Isuppose that you could regard the new MG5 as an EV version of the Dacia Logan,in that if you need a lot of space for passengers and luggage and your budget is limited this is the electric car for you OK it's not the best looking car and the driving experience probably ain't that great, but for £25k you get a 200+ mile range low running costs and a seven year warrenty. SAIC the Chinese owner have positioned it's range of cars in the "value" segment of the market and this way the Japanese and Korean manufacturers managed to break through to the European market. If I were a betting man,I'd lay odds that SAIC/MG are still around in twenty years rather than other Chinese marques like Polestar.
Quite right Ian. Many moan