SAIC extends the MG EV product range in its biggest European market

Main image: Related but different - MG4 EV Urban (left) and MG4 EV (right).

SAIC (Shanghai Auto Industry Corporation)-owned MG has recently announced two new EV models which will be entering the UK market – the 2026 MG4 EV and the MG4 EV Urban.

The new MG4 EV Urban model comes in with a low price well under the standard MG4 EV range, which is also revised and updated.

MG says the new “facelifted” MG4 introduces an upgraded feel for drivers and passengers. There is an improved interior design, better onboard technology and infotainment systems have also been upgraded from the previous 2022 model which was sold in Britain.

The 51kWh battery has gone, with a 64kWh battery (280-mile range) and a 77kWh battery (338-mile range) available.

The XPOWER variant of the MG4 model has stayed on as the high-performance model, with 320kW (429hp) and a 3.8-second 0-62mph time.

The 2026 MG4 EV Urban is an EV hatchback designed especially with city driving in mind, offering two battery options—43kWh (up to 201-mile range) and 53.9kWh (over 250-mile range), which the OEM has stated can achieve a 10-80% charge in 28-30 minutes.

The MG4 EV Urban is front wheel-drive and utilises MG’s ‘E3 platform’. It also includes a heat pump for improved cold-weather efficiency. 

At the MG4 EV and MG4 EV Urban UK launch event, Frankie Youd heard from Jozef Kaban, vice president of global design, and David Allison, director of product and planning, MG Motor UK.

Jozef Kaban: The car is sharp looking, it is very dynamic, it has some strong elements. It has very unique, unusual proportions, it provides lots of drama, and it is easy to recognise. At the back of the vehicle, we changed the focus on the area on the top to make it more elegant, we have redesigned the rear aero, replacing the two-piece design.

The whole interior is more premium. You can especially see this on the seats where the materials have been improved from the previous model. What we tried to do is change the car by not changing too much. People love it already. We just want to increase the premium quality and smart experience.

Jozef Kaban: The two vehicles contrast to each other. If one is known for lots of sharp lines, the other one has soft lines. If one is chasing speed, the other one is chasing style. Some of the design elements link to the Cyberster – the lines at the front of the car are very similar.

When you look at the back of the Cyberster the lights are inspired by the British flag; you have here these diagonal lines, and you have a similarity on the back on the MG4 EV Urban. We are creating something that gives the car a recognisable character. We didn’t want to compromise any space inside and we think the size helps it to stand out.

For a dimensions point of view it’s actually quite a bit longer than the MG4 EV. It’s almost 110 millimetres longer and it’s also taller, but virtually the same in terms of width.

David Allison: It has a premium high tech style interior and we’ve increased the size of the touchscreen to 12.8 inches. We’ve added in wireless Apple car-play; the display is now fully integrated. There is much more attention on driver convenience; the centre console now runs the full length of the cabin, and we have repositioned the wireless charging pad.

There are more efforts to improve the convenience. We have added physical controls for important functions. We’ve upgraded the MG pilot to the latest camera-based technology, and we added the personalisation feature, which allows users to set and save their preferred ADAS settings and easily access them on each vehicle start.

The seat materials upgraded with new patterns and is finished in a lighter shade of grey cloth and leather, and the XPOWER now has bespoke sports seat.

The MG4 EV was the first MG to use our bespoke modular scalable platform. It was designed to be lightweight and compact to maximise efficiency. One of its core strengths is its ultra-thin, horizontal cell stack design, which lowers the centre of gravity.

We have retained the MacPherson front suspension and fully independent multi-link rear suspension.

There are three modes for the electric power steering system, and we’re continuing our partnership with Continental using the latest generation of their integrated break booster system. There are five drive modes to choose from which you can cycle through using the right-hand custom button on the steering wheel, and four levels of regeneration, including one pedal mode.

David Allison: From an interior point of view, there are lots of similarities to the MG4. The dual screen layout is present and there are also physical controls for key functions. Another point to note is we have freed up space on the centre console by moving the EV drive selector, which is now located on the right-hand stalk.

There are over thirty storage areas, and there is more than enough room. You have 577 litres of boot space available, and 98 litres of that can be accessed by the hidden compartment located under the boot to floor.

MG4 EV Urban uses our next generation dedicated electric E3 platform. We’re using a new cell to body technology which enhances body rigidity, reduces weight and increases space and because of low battery thickness, centre of gravity is reduced, enhancing the handling performance.

The MG4 Urban is front wheel drive, and the rear suspension is lightweight and low mounted.

David Allison: ​​​​​​​It’s a difficult question to answer. The reason for launching two vehicles is that we are obviously trying to grow the [UK] opportunity. With the first MG4 we sold 49,000 overall. The best year we had was the first year where we sold over 21,000 but obviously, as time goes on, the volume that we’ve sold each year has gone down.

In my plan for this year, I’ve split it 50:50 and that’s probably the safest thing to do until we actually understand what the order intake rate is going to be. I think there’s probably going to be some natural cannibalisation. There are inevitably going to be some people that have had an MG4, they look at the MG4 EV Urban, they might prefer the style, the space on the inside, and think that they want to upgrade into the MG4 EV Urban.

There’s going to be people that are driving a current MG4 and are comfortable with the range that it can achieve. They like the power, they like the performance, they like the way that the car drives and handles. For them, potentially the opportunity to upgrade it into a car with a much nicer interior, and a few extra bits and pieces, it’s going to be a natural thing for them.

For me, the whole point of doing this, and doing the kind of the two-car approach is to be able to try and move more into that segment in the early £20,000s where there’s lots of competition, but it tends to be from the class below.

If we can offer something to the people that are perhaps in that market from a budget point of view, but particularly need rear seat and luggage space, this is where we’ve really got a great opportunity.

I think until we’ve probably got six months’ worth of data, what I would say is it’s potentially going to be 50:50, the most deviation you’ll probably see is probably 60:40 [MG4 EV to MG4 EV Urban].

David Allison: ​​​​​​​I think the headline price is key to grabbing attention. Certainly, my experience in two different brands where we sold EVs is that people will gravitate towards where they perceive they get the best value for their budget. So that’s normally the longer-range batteries, which tend to come with the higher equipment levels.

Now it might be with that very keen price point on the MG4 EV Urban that that’s a car that potentially breaks that particular cycle, but my natural view is that the sweet spot is normally somewhere in the middle. I think with that experience, it would probably be levitated towards either the comfort in the long range or maybe even the premium.

The ‘C segment’, or ‘large B’, ‘small C’ – it’s a really, wide market area. There’s lots of product out there. I think essentially, what we’re trying to do is take the segment as it is and penetrate it as best we can with two cars rather than one.

Originally, when we launched MG4 back in 2022 there wasn’t a lot of competition, and it was quite compromised in lots of ways, because a lot of the cars that were competing against MG4 at the time were combustion engine platform cars that had been converted into EVs, which never really worked out all that well. With MG4, it had all the equipment, it drove really well, it had lots of space, and it was £10,000 cheaper than a Volkswagen ID.3.

Fast forward three years and lots has changed. We’ve got to make sure that we keep up with the competition, and we do have to sell a greater mix of electric cars. The best opportunity we’ve got is to offer two cars instead of just one.