Electric city car is likely to be priced from below £20,000 and hit the UK next year
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MG plans to launch a sub-£20k electric city car in the UK by the end of next year, Autocar can reveal.
Speaking on the sidelines of the new MG 3’s unveiling at the Geneva motor show (see box, right), product and planning boss David Allison outlined plans to expand the Chinese firm’s electric car line-up below the 4, hinting at a compact rival to the Dacia Spring.
A concept for the new ‘MG 2’ already exists, revealed Allison, and it could evolve into a production car in less than two years. Speed is particularly important in this instance to enable MG to take advantage of the dearth of small, affordable EVs currently on the market.
He said: “I think that it’s an area that no one has really exploited successfully yet, because the focus has been very much on larger cars and really where they can charge the amount of money for people that are willing to pay it.
“But I think there’s a huge opportunity for someone who can get to the four-metre EV for around €20,000 [£17,000]. I think someone can do that with an acceptable-range, decent-sized car about that price, and I think that person will clean up with it. And why not us?”
Allison also said that he has “been impressed with how quickly things tend to happen” at MG.
He explained: “Product development is clearly a long-term thing, but it’s not inconceivable that you could go from concept to production in as little as two years.
