Some upset new model won’t undercut ZS EV and say it is cheaper in its first and primary right-hand drive market.

INITIAL reaction from electric vehicle enthusiasts to a starting price for an important new MG car might not be entirely what the brand wants to hear.

The $54,995 tag, which can drop to $46,465 with the fattest Clean Car discount factored in, for the MG4 was shared at the weekend.

Response on social media has been swift, with some expressing the China-based marque could have done better, arguing the car retails in its biggest right-hand-drive market, the United Kingdom, for almost $2000 less than what Kiwis will pay after receiving the $8625 Clean Car discount.

That logic could be disputed. When MotoringNZ.com looked at this last month, it ascertained that MG4 pricing in the UK began at the equivalent of just over $49,000 on currency conversion at that time.

Nonetheless, one well-known commentator within the EV social media scene has accused the make of price gouging.

They have also expressed a disappointment the all-new model, the first on a brand-new platform for MG, will not undercut the brand’s existing electric car, the ZS EV, NZ’s cheapest for more than two years, as it does in the UK.

The latter is much less advanced is it drivetrain design and also is a derivation of a petrol car, which started production in 2015, two years before EV ZS came out.

Online portals announced the price at the weekend, a specialist publication specific to the EV community getting in first with a mainstream newspaper site following up.

Each said the information share had been from a source/sources “close to the brand”, but it all became clear when it was identified as by a third recipient as being a drop orchestrated by MG in Australia, via a New Zealand communications entity it uses to disseminate general press releases.

Presumption of the price being for to the entry-level 51kWh variant, which comes with a claimed 350km of range rather than the 64kWh model, capable of 450km on a charge, was a common thread of both published reports.

Those chosen for the heads-up were the make’s hosted guests at the car’s Australasian debut at the Fully Charged electric car show in Sydney last month.

MG4 is expected to become available in NZ after June and expectation is that it has potential to do even more to revive a market presence battered by the BYD Atto 3, 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 and even more powerful and longer-range editions are in the wings.

It 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, feeding in initial launch form a single motor making 125kW in the entry car and 150kW in the larger battery edition. MG also makes MG4 in a dual motor format.

The 150kW/310Nm Atto 3 avails with a 50kWh battery in entry form and a 60kWh battery in a flagship format.

MG says MG 4 is a generational step up from the underpinning and driveware used by ZS EV 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.