‘Long range’ flagship for $1000 more than direct BYD rival; MG4 also cited for post-June release.

COMPETITION between two budget-themed electric car brands seems set to intensify, with the price leader having announced a more direct foil to its biggest threat.

Confirmation of New Zealand availability of its ZS EV ‘Long Range’, so named because it has a 72kWh battery – whereas current cars have a 50kWh unit - for $64,990 allows MG here to rectify a deficiency that came to light when most direct rival BYD, also from China, entered the market last year with the Atto 3.

Intent to include the 72kWh (68.3kWh actual) derivative, whose only right-hand drive availability until now has been as a grey import via the United Kingdom, as a third choice to the 50kWh sister models that cost at least $10,000 less revealed at an event in Australia last night.

MG also used the ‘Fully Charged’ event in Sydney to show off the MG4, a much fresher design than the ZS, also inbound soon.

No pricing has been announced for MG4 – in the United Kingdom, where it has just claimed a car of the year award, it starts from just under $49,990 - and local arrival timing has only narrowed down to some time after June.

Expectation is that it’ll have potential to do even more to revive a market presence battered by the BYD car, which has consistently outsold ZS in the eight months the two have gone head-to-head.

MG4 will at first be available with 51kWh and 64kWh batteries with 350km and 450km WLTP ranges respectively; the latter therefore setting a 30km higher benchmark than the 72kWh ZS, and even more powerful and longer range editions are in the wings.

MG 4 is also the first MG built on a new bespoke electric Modular Scalable Platform (MSP), which will be used as the basis for a whole future line-up of EVs ranging from hatchbacks to medium sports utilities provisioned by Shanghai Automotive (SAIC), the parent of the MG brand. It transfers MG electric product from lithium ion batteries to lithium nickel manganese cobalt units.  

The 72kWh ZS, meantime, offers the same 280Nm torque but 15kW less power - to 115kW from 130kW - as the ZS Kiwis have known in $49,990 Excite and $53,990 Essence levels after a mid 2022 refresh of the original 2018 format.

Though last year’s revision gave the 50kWh product a range improvement from 262km to 320km, both have been outrun by the 150kW/310Nm Atto 3, which avails with a 50kWh battery in entry form and a 60kWh battery in a flagship format. 

The new ZS electric flagship prices $1000 above the latter, which with a WLTP-cited ability to travel 420 kilometres’ will conceivably exhaust 20kms before the new ZS.

In the UK it appears to start at just over $NZ49,000.

MG says MG 4 is a generational step up from the underpinning and driveware used by ZS EV – and, of course, it is a wholly bespoke electric, whereas ZS is a conversion of a car that began life with a combustion engine and still sells in that form here.

A 4287mm long, 1836mm wide and 1504mm high hatchback on a 20705mm wheelbase, it has 50:50 weight distribution and a low centre of gravity, offers a range of battery sizes – plus a dual motor configuration denied the ZS - and has even been designed to potentially allow for battery swap technology on future models.

MG 4 is an international market descriptive. In China the car is known as the MG Mulan, in honour of the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan. That name is used in China because four is considered an unlucky number.

All current MG and BYD product is eligible for Government’s Clean Car discount of $8625.