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 don’t really get MG, More Horizon, Yugo, and Jetta. The Chinese really need foreign designers for the foreign markets. I say they should have thought small shooting brake than hatchback
The Temu-Countryman vibes are strong with this one.
Surely this is meant as more of a counterpart to the MG3, so, more of a ZR and Metro successor, except maybe aiming for a higher price than the current 3?
The Cybster GTS concept they showed a couple of years ago feels more like a modern BGT successor, though, like the TF coupe, there doesnt seem to be any sign of actually building it
Kinda looks like a crossover-ized Scion tC to me.
But count me among those excited that hatches seem to be on their way back. In the states, we already have a few crossovers that would work almost as is if the SUV-esq cladding were removed and gaping grill was minimized.
I thought it was another Renault 5 rebrand(like the Alpine and Nissan) as others have said, which I think looks great so it looks great but doesn’t make me think MG.
TBF VWs remake of the VW VAN,was a bit of the let down as the only thing common between the two was the name and an outside shape. Still better than the EV Mustang
I dunno. I don’t see any visual kinship with that lovable old hatch.
Mostly I look at these pics and recall a high school chant heard at certain rowdy sportsball matches. To wit:
U.G.L.Y.
You ain’t got no alibi
You ugly!
huh huh huh
You ugly!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I96LR5vqqqQ
Wow. It’s lived on all these years. Kinda sweet to see The Kids picking up that ball and running with it.
(Said Kids are now pushing 50, I guess.)
It’s also in a Pluto TV commercial for the I Love Lucy show, but altered to say L! U! C! Y! She don’t need no alibi!
It’s OK, I suppose. I do have a preference for hatchback designs and welcome any entrants into the field, but Maoist Garages has long way to go when it comes building anything with the character and appeal of an MGB. Reliability they’ve got covered.
Maoist Garages classic
I reckon there would be a bit more cultural revolution flavour in BL era Abingdon than there would be in modern day Nanjing
I suppose “inspired by the MG Metro 1300” doesn’t have quite the same cachet.
I missed that, did MG have any classic or elegant or expressive models? They should be copying the huge selling successful models.
It’s a great hot hatch but it is no MGB GT.
Pre-production is before the #1 makes this 0MG GO! constipated concept.
I like the design a lot and would consider buying an electric hot hatch
I wish we could get the VW GTE here in the USA. ah well.
Ditto I wish we would get some EV hot hatches and wagons in the US but yeah we wont. Besides R3 cannot think of anything else like this coming to the US.
I guess it got lost in translation. It looks nothing like the old school MGB GT, nothing. Yes, it’s a hatchback and that’s cool and all. I’m sad, because they really could have made it look more like the GT and less like the average run of the mill subcompact CUV.
I’m always happy to see a proper hatch and MG’s recent offerings have been relatively cheap. I see 0% BGT though. More like a slightly melted new R5 with Porsche-inspired headlights.
Handsome-looking hatch! Seems like they copied Mini’s homework on that front end, though.
The Chinese do do copyright infringement better than original design. Before Europe destroys their own car manufacturers market I hope they recoup all the stolen designs and theft before they are allowed to sell
Every time I read GO! In my mind it was shouted. Sharp and short, not all drawn out. GO! You’re in a hurry! You don’t have time for GOOO!, you need to GO!
I don’t think they’re actually going for an MGB GT, or they’d go with “GT Homage” or something, but the cues are nice I guess. The short snoot does make it very Mini (or New Renault 5) coded, though, as has been mentioned.
But will it have three wiper blades along with turn signals, a radio, and reverse lights that only work when they feel like it?
-current MGB owner.
Hatchbacks! Hatchbacks! Hatchbacks!
Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice.
Looks like the Renault 5 to me
I’d take one of those as well, or an Inster, EV2, EV4 hatch, Grande Panda EV, or Ioniq 3.
Probably I’ll end up settling for an Uncharted or EV3.
It looks pretty cool, but a BGT it ain’t. Take away that press release and no one in their right mind would draw any connection.
But then again, no one ever accused Jason of being in his right mind.
This. I don’t see anything that screams (or even says loudly) that this is an MG. I don’t hate it, but I hate it for trying to play up a connection that doesn’t exist.
Yeah – No.
Looks like a good replacement for the next generation Kia Niro. It’s even got the Magma color going for it.
Also. The hatchback is perfectly alive, selling well and with plenty of choice (if not as many as in the past).
The EV6 looks significantly more like a Lancia Stratos than this looks anything like an MGB GT.
I suspect a much more true “inspiration” is Renault’s wildly popular new 5.
Jeremy Clarkson. Skoda Roomster.
“It’s a Stratos!”
RS416 Suzuki Swift giving those Stratos vibes
“As far as retro influenced designs go, this one is really pretty subtle”
So subtle the only thing it has in common with it, is the same as the rest of the range: it has four wheels.
It’s a decent looking hatchback, I suppose, as hatchbacks go, but it resembles the MGB GT about as much as a Filet-O-Fish resembles a salmon steak. I don’t think it’s even possible to squint that hard.
OH SNAP.
I totally agree but have to add a salmon steak? Looks as much as a ribeye steak. Sorry fish ain’t steak
It looks more like the 4-door MINI than an MGB GT
This was my thought exactly. I don’t see MGB GT there at all.
And once it’s in production and all the gee-whiz concept car stuff is stripped away, it’ll look like any other hatchback.
We are probably seeing the replacement for the MG3 with it?
I also thought of Mini.