MG is planning to extend its line-up with two new SUVs. One will be of a similar size to the Nissan X-Trail and the other will be smaller and compete in the same sector as the Nissan Juke.
The new models will complete a three-SUV MG line-up that will include the mid-sized GS, due to be launched next month.
Speaking to Autocar at the London motor show, MG sales and marketing boss Matthew Cheyne said: “You have to be playing in the right segments, and clearly the SUV segment is a growth market.
“Next year we’ll be launching a B-segment SUV — the GS’s baby brother, if you like,” he added. The Juke rival is tipped to go on sale towards the end of 2017.
“We’ll have the B and C-segment SUVs in the baby SUV and the GS, so then you start looking at larger SUVs as well,” Cheyne said. “We’re trying to make a range of cars that appeal to the British market.”
This is not the only growth planned by Chinese-owned MG. Cheyne hinted at even more models in development, but didn’t confirm what they are. “We’ve got lots of different cars in development,” he said.
However, with the brand’s focus on growing markets, enthusiasts will be disappointed that there are no plans to produce a roadster or a distinct sports model, stemming from the history of MG’s B and TF models.
Cheyne said: “There are no specific plans to produce a roadster at this point, although the new architecture we’re moving towards would be easier to develop a roadster from.
“The two-seat convertible market is in decline, so there’s no case to build one. We build our cars to have good handling, though, so we continue the MG heritage this way.”
It’s likely the small SUV will be based on the MG 3 supermini, although Cheyne suggested that MG’s global product catalogue left the possibilities for platform sharing wide open.
“Because we’re part of this massive global company, there are other products that we can take,” he said. “When the time is right, we can say: ‘Now is the time to launch this particular vehicle’.”
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Flawed logic
So - the new underpinnings from the MG GS could help as a donor for a new MG Roadster just as GM is allegedly thinking of using Vauxhall Mokka bits fir the Vauxhall GT Sports car. GM - meet MG; MG - say hello to GM....
“The two-seat convertible market is in decline, so there’s no case to build one. We build our cars to have good handling, though, so we continue the MG heritage this way.”
The sports car market waxes and wanes as do all sectors (look at saloons now that every family wants an SUV). Mazda, FIAT, Abarth, BMW, Toyota and, perhaps, Honda, Opel, Vauxhall and others seem to have found a way to make roadsters. But then they are successful car makers across the world. Building cars to have nice handling is fair enough, but arguably customers don't pay as much attention to that as much as style! MG want to combine sporty with cheap; an illogical mix.
Same old
Petrol?
The MG6 is now only offered with a diesel engine. That said, it doesn't seem to have made much difference to sales. If I had a pound for every MG6 I've seen on the road, I'd have...a pound!
Whilst I understand the