Remember Morris Garages? Sure you do! We all love a good MG somewhere deep down in our oily hearts. Modern MG, though, is sort of a strange beast. By “modern” I mean MG since 2007, when it was purchased by China’s SAIC Motor. The Chinese company has kept the brand alive, which is certainly something, though MG’s current lineup doesn’t really feel very MG. It feels pretty generic, really. Maybe that’s why I’m actually a little excited about MG’s recent concept car, which was just revealed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (velocity, not the drug, which I think has a separate festival), known as the MG GO!
The MG GO!, which has one of those names full of capitalizations and punctuation that I hate typing, is one of two concept cars MG showed at Goodwood. The other one I don’t even care enough about to mention here, so let’s get back to the MG GO!.
MG’s current lineup seems to pull from MG’s rich heritage only in the sense that their cars, like earlier MGs, rely on wheels to move around. That’s about it, really. This new concept at least seems to make an attempt to try for something more specifically MG, as their press release notes:
The MG GO! concept car is more than a glimpse of future new B-segment electric hatchback being launched in 2027 but a promise of bringing genuine aspiration and desirability to the electric mainstream. It has a clever mix of retro futuristic design inspired by MG’s most elegant and expressive models from the mid-20th century, like the iconic MGB GT.
As far as retro influenced designs go, this one is really pretty subtle, but it does at least hint at the general hatchback shape of the original MGB GT, the handsome Pininfarina-designed GT car version of the MGB roadster built between 1965 and 1980.
The MG GO! concept feels the most like the old-school MGB GT in profile, in the sense that it feels like a hatchback design. It’s not especially similar to the MGB GT and really doesn’t even bother to visually quote or reference many of the GT’s specific design details, but it does manage to achieve a general tone that feels like the original.
This seems to fit with what the designers were trying for, at least according to what MG’s PR people suggest in their press release:
The concept, along with the forthcoming production model, have been designed entirely by the team at MG Design Centre in London, led by Design Director, Carl Gotham. However, from the outset, the intention was never to create a nostalgic showpiece, but something contemporary and relevant: a compact car with genuine emotional appeal, conceived to stand apart in a highly competitive segment – to be poised, playful and immediately engaging.
The design language is deliberately simple, built around a small number of key elements that reflect qualities always admired in MG’s classic designs, especially the MGB GT – a car that embodied everyday elegance, joy and presence without excess.
I think what’s resonating well is the overall hatchbackitudishness of it all, which, at least based on the reaction to other concepts like the Rivian R3, seems to be tapping into some latent desire among the future car-buying populace.
Really, one could argue that many crossovers are already a sort of hatchback, just tall ones, in the same way that SUVs are sort of tall wagons. The utility and flexibility of hatchbacks never really left, but now the concept of them, minus the rugged-roads pretending of crossovers, seems to be gaining a status that they never really had before.
The MG GO! does seem to have the exaggerated wheel size of a concept car, and those rear diffusers or whatever those big panels are at the rear may feel a bit overdone, but the idea of a clean, well-proportioned hatchback feels like an idea that is ready to come back, right? I kind of like the big flared wheel arches and haunches, too.
MG says this concept hints at an upcoming EV set for 2027. If so, that’s great. I mean, great for the places where MGs are sold, which does not include America, but who knows? Maybe the success of tidy, clever little hatchbacks will convince more manufacturers to give these a try again?
More hatchback-shaped, non-huge cars, I say! Why not? I feel like there’s a sleeping giant of a market out there for such things, and while, sure, I’ll probably buy a living pteranodon before I ever actually buy a new car myself, I still think this is true.
Top graphic images: MG
“I’ll probably buy a living pteranodon before I ever actually buy a new car myself”
Me too Torch, me too…
Maybe. Never heard of this and when I saw the image, first thing that popped in my mind is they updated the mini slightly.
Looks kind of like a Minecraft edition.
On the authenticity spectrum of ‘western brands acquired by a Chinese conglomerate’, MG sits above Lotus’ 6000lb SUV and but below Polestar.
The only thing those two cars have in common is being in the same picture.
That said, it looks like a Mini if there were Minis in Minority Report, and I’m into it.
I love the looks of the MGB GT, have even entertained the idea of buying one occasionally, and I would love to see more sporty EV hatchbacks but imo this doesn’t seem at all inspired by classic MGs. Maybe an Austin Metro or something, the front end immediately made me think of some of the newer minis.
I don’t see MG anything in that, but it reminds me of a Renault.
I see just another small SUV. I don’t see any MGBGT in it at all. I mean, I wish we had more foreign cars to choose from here in the US, but I wouldn’t be choosing this one.
It looks cool but maybe a coupe would be better? I passed an MG Cyberstar today and aside from the really clumsy use of black negative space around the roof opening (bustle?) area it looked pretty good.
Dude with the briefcase is scanning for witnesses before he pulls the gun
MG seem to have noticed the success Renault has had with its gorgeous new 5
Wow, a Maestro revival!
MG did make a hopped-up Maestro, but to me this looks a bit more Metro.
Well, really it looks like a new MINI, but Rover never got around to slapping an MG badge on the original Mini.
(Not that I can blame them for name checking a much better looking car than the Maestro, those things were so ugly they made the Metro look bearable)
I had an MGB-GT and that, sir, is no MGB-GT…
Nice with a hot hatch, that isn’t a tall SUV/crossover. Period.
But any similarities to the old MGBGT is just marketing!
-And oooh i DO like long british abbreviations, like MGBGT!
But my favourite is still TDV6HSE from JLR(G) L319 😀
Looks attractive now but by the time they release it, the flares will be reduced to a stylistic crease line making it slab sided with small wheels and lifted for needed ground clearance. Running boards, spoiler, and diffusers will be expensive options. The tinted windows will be gone, for safety, and with that the whole concept falls apart leaving you staring at the massive pillars and wondering why it reminds you of a rounded off Dodge Caliber.
They the execs will cry “Why isn’t anyone buying it?”
I do see a little GT profile in the front 3/4 view but would agree with others that this isn’t much more than an e-MINI in a fancy dress. Which may not be a bad thing. I will give credit that while Chinese MGs certainly aren’t what I would consider a real MG (and I have a real one), my experience has been that they are at least decent for what they are. Last summer, when our rental Citroen committed ritual seppuku in rural France during the massive heat wave, Europcar gave me a new MG HS small SUV as a replacement. It was nothing exceptional but it was a decent driver, well equipped, and perfectly cromulent.
Do tell about the seppuku. My son and his wife rented a Citroen Aircross last year on their honeymoon and loved it.
Hatchbacks sell plenty in other parts of the world. They’ve never really gone away.
Sorry Jason, small hatchbacks are too threatening to certain men’s fragile masculinity, so we will see nothing of the sort here.
As a 2020 MINI Cooper SE driver, small electric hatches can’t return to our shores soon enough…yes, I know this won’t be one of them. : (
Rebirth of the MGB GT? No lol. But it is a pretty sharp looking hatch.
If the Mach E is a Mustang this can be a MGB-GT. I like it excepting the weird silvered diffuser things on the back. Hope they bring it to Canada. I’d check it out, although I likely won’t fit.
Although I’ll never get the opportunity to drive one of these unless I magically relocate to Europe, I think it’s a mostly great design, even if it seems to borrow heavily from Mini. I wish automotive tastes would go back to the time when not everyone wanted or thought they needed a massive SUV/crossover.
They DARE imply this thing has any relation to the only affordable/widespread Shooting Brake ever produced??? Heresy!!!! Ok but really it seems like a fine little EV hatchback thing, and one of the first Chinese brands to get western/euro styling sensibilities. Bet it isn’t even RWD though…
You could argue that the 1976-1981 Toyota Corolla Liftback was, also, at least that was the image Toyota seemed to be trying to create for it
Oh yeah it depends on how narrow of a definition you want to apply. A super strict definition (sports car platform with a wagonback) leaves very few, aforementioned MGBGT, the P1800es, Jason’s old Scimitar, a couple others. A broader definition of anything RWD that’s more wagon back is also fine, and honestly I don’t mind some FWDs that blur the lines a bit if they seem to have enough sporting intent (à la Volvo C30, maybe the CRX?) especially since there are just so few cars that fit the definition anyway, haha.
I always defined the difference between shooting brake and 2-door station wagon as shooting brakes being derived from coupes instead of sedans, having some emphasis on style/sportyness over pure utility, and being willing to sacrifice at least some utility in favor of style. Sort of the same distinctions between a coupe and a 2 door sedan. Certainly, the coach built shooting brakes on Rolls-Royce and Bentley chassis that sort of started the genre weren’t exactly sports cars
Very true if you go all the way back to the original ones! I tend to separate those from the post ww2 sports car style models for some reason, not even sure why, haha. Somehow I forgot the Clownshoe! Seems like we need Torch to do us up an article on defining Shooting Brake body styles so we can all discuss further!
It always seemed like it should be the easiest body style to sell to enthusiasts that somehow never gets offered for enthusiast cars, instead we get convertibles, yeah, those are real useful at 80mph
Yeah if my Miata was a shooting brake I would love it even more!
Lancia Beta HPE would like a word.
Oh this car had escaped me, thanks for the new rabbit hole!
“the only affordable/widespread Shooting Brake ever produced???”
The Ford Pinto would like a word. As would the gen3 Honda Civic hatchback, arguably a shooting brake.
I’m with several other commenters in saying I don’t think that the MGB GT is being channeled here. This concept almost seems to have the proportions of a traditional FWD hot hatch, so If you told me this was an alternate reality Renault Clio, or Mini Cooper concept, I could see that more. I think its because, to me at least, the original MGB GT doesn’t at all suggest “Hot Hatch”. The original MGB feels very “RWD, 2 seater” in its proportions, and feels more like a “truncated shooting brake” than what we are seeing with this concept car.
While I like it, nothing triggers an MGB GT feeling. Fiat maybe? Not bad, though.
Totally agree. Not one thing that reminds you of the MGB. Anyways I also agree, that it’s looking pretty good