These latest spy pictures show an undisguised version of the new MG 5, which is expected to go on sale in China in the middle of next year and reach Europe in 2013.
The images, from auto.sohu.com, are the clearest indicators yet of the new MG 5’s styling. It closely resembles the Focus-size Concept 5 hatchback displayed at the Shanghai motor show earlier this year.
Concept 5 was the work of MG’s Longbridge design studio and the show car itself was built in the UK. The production version of the Concept 5 is codenamed AP12 and rides on a version of the 350 platform MG shares with Chinese partner Roewe. A torsion beam rear suspension setup has been rumoured.
By the time of its UK launch, the MG 5's dynamics and some aspects of its design will have been reworked to suit European tastes. It will initially be powered by the existing NSE petrol engine range of 1.3 and 1.8-litre engines.
The MG 5 is designed to slot beneath the slightly larger MG 6 that went on sale in the UK last year. Read our road test of the MG 6 here.
The car's appearance will bolster the manufacturer’s range and, with the MG 3, take the brand back into the UK market’s heartland. At the Shanghai show earlier this year, MG and Roewe design director Tony Williams-Kenny said MG is being pitched as “youthful, on trend and progressive”.
The MG 5 is part of a raft of planned new models that include an all-new sports car, a hybrid and a crossover version of the MG 3.
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Re: New MG 5 spied testing
Saw my first MG6 'on the road' only last week in our local Sainsbury car park. It had an MG Cars identifier on it's number plate. When I spoke to the driver (who was from overseas) it seems it was a hire car...
Re: New MG 5 spied testing
thank Jesus that Saab Aerospace own the Saab name and won't let it go to whoever gets the last of the scraps being sold off - most probably to Youngman - so we will be spared monstrosities like the MG5 sporting a Saab badge. PHEW.
That car is simply hideous... you can laugh at the Metro, Maestro and Montego but in their day they weren't that bad... and as the Maestro and Montego were built in Cowley rather than Longbridge they are closer to the spiritual home of MG.
Re: New MG 5 spied testing
We all know that MG was never a "premium car" (if one should use this rather odd term), but my god MG deserves something better than this. The design, drive train etc could hardly fool anyone. But I do wish MG can survive in a much more dignified way than this! For its time the MG B was very good indeed, something the MG F never managed.
Why ever BMW let go of the MG name is strange, deciding to hang on to the pointless Triumph name which they will surely never use! The new 2 seat Mini Roadster would have made an excellent MG ( BMC had a very similar idea already in 1959 but Issigonies hated it).