MG 7 flagship sedan revealed, not for Australia

MG’s new flagship sedan gained’t kind a part of the model’s passenger automobile line-up growth in Australia.

The MG 7 giant sedan will slot in on the prime of the model’s line-up in China, the place sedans stay widespread, nevertheless it’s not coming to our extra sedan-averse market – although we’ll get the smaller MG 5 sedan and MG 4 Electric hatch.

“We’re continuously listening to the wants and desires of our clients, however at this stage, we won’t be bringing the MG7 into the Australian market,” mentioned a spokesperson for MG Motor Australia.

MG is referring to the 7 as its first Black Label automobile, suggesting a extra upscale bent for the modern sedans – Lincoln gives extra luxurious variants of its vehicles underneath the Black Label nameplate, for instance.

The MG 7 incorporates a modern silhouette with pretty tight overhangs, distinguished shoulders and a brief rear deck.

Its aspect creasing is extra dramatic than most MG vehicles, other than the brand new MG One crossover that debuted final 12 months, whereas up entrance there’s a menacing prow with a full-width grille and a blacked-out badge.

The inside has but to be revealed, although it might function twin 12.3-inch shows just like the MG 5 Scorpio.

Whereas MG hasn’t launched full specs, it has confirmed on social media website Weibo the MG 7 will probably be powered by a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine.

A teaser picture reveals a 405 TGI badge on its boot lid.

The turbo 2.0-litre within the Chinese language-market Pilot is badged 400TGI and produces 170kW of energy and 370Nm of torque, barely greater than the 168kW/360Nm turbo 2.0-litre of the closely related HS right here.

Anticipate, due to this fact, for the MG 7 to eke out barely extra energy and torque, whereas a seven-speed dual-clutch computerized seems the doubtless alternative of transmission.

The corporate has additionally launched a teaser video on Weibo, that includes pictures of the MG B roadster and MG ZT sedan towards a classical music soundtrack and closely emphasising its emerald inexperienced hero color.

Whereas it’s unclear simply how giant the MG 7 is, it doubtless incorporates a related footprint to conventional mid-sized rivals.

The mid-sized phase in Australia is a troublesome place for a automobile to be until it’s a Toyota Camry, and most manufacturers have been heading for the exits – witness the axing over the previous few years of stalwarts just like the Ford Mondeo, Kia Optima and Subaru Liberty.

This maybe explains why there are not any plans to convey the MG 7 right here. A scarcity of demand for vehicles this measurement in different right-hand drive markets just like the UK would additionally dampen any enterprise case for the Chinese language automaker.

The MG 7 will slot in above the MG 5 sedan and MG 6 liftback within the model’s Chinese language lineup.

The previous was launched in 2020 and arrives right here in 2023, one among two MG vehicles – the opposite being the MG 4 Electrical/Mulan – that’ll be part of the model’s SUV-heavy lineup in Australia subsequent 12 months.

MG at present sells just one passenger automobile in Australia, the ageing however hot-selling MG 3.

It hasn’t introduced the present, second-generation MG 6 liftback to Australia, which was launched in China in 2016. It changed a mannequin that lingered on till 2019 in Australia regardless of gradual gross sales.

The MG 6, roughly the identical measurement as a Hyundai i30 Sedan and fractionally longer than the MG 5, is obtainable in a variety of variants in China, together with a 224kW plug-in hybrid that may be had in aggressive-looking X-Energy guise.

MG’s use of the Rover 75-based MG ZT in its teaser video is reflective of the slightly difficult historical past of the MG 7 nameplate.

When MG Rover went bankrupt, two firms – Nanjing Auto and SAIC Motor – acquired the means to proceed producing the Rover 75 sedan.

That noticed the car reanimated because the Roewe 750 and MG 7. The Chinese language Authorities ordered Nanjing and SAIC to merge, however the two separate mannequin strains continued. Lengthy-wheelbase variations of each had been produced.

The MG 7 ended manufacturing in 2015, with the Roewe 750 following in 2016.

Since then, the MG model has been and not using a flagship sedan. It does, nevertheless, provide autos bigger than the MG 6 in some markets, together with the Gloster (a rebadged LDV D90) and RX8 (née Roewe) giant SUVs.