Unveiled: 2011 MG Zero

[Pedrocas]

This is MG?s new supermini, designed at the company?s Longbridge engineering centre and likely to go on sale here in 2011 following a Chinese debut in the second half of this year.

This concept version, called MG Zero, is a lightly modified version of the real thing, which will be called MG3. The showroom version will feature less elaborate exterior lighting and do without the (rather effective) LED-lit front grille, as well as the illuminated MG logos in the head restraints.

See the MG Zero pictures

But the bodywork itself is representative of the showroom car, as are the outer casings of the headlamps and tail-lights. MG?s owner, SAIC, says the car was designed with a UK flavour from the start, the design team led by Briton Anthony Williams.

SAIC is aiming the car at so-called G-90 consumers, who are aged between 18 and 28 and expect a car with a high level of connectivity.

No details have been given of the MG?s interior equipment, but the advanced infotainment system of the newly launched Roewe 350, which has been developed in league with China?s second biggest mobile company, China Unicom, suggests that the MG3 could be pretty sophisticated in this area.


Mechanically the MG3 follows the format of virtually every other supermini on the market. That means a transverse, front-wheel drive powertrain, MacPherson strut front suspension and an H-frame torsion beam rear axle.

Although the layout is identical to that of the MG Streetwise that this car will replace in China (that?s the Streetwise, cross-over version of the ancient Rover 25, which is moderately popular in what is now its home market), the MG3 rides on an all-new platform that shares no parts with the outgoing model.

SAIC product planning boss Liu Tao says the new MG?s wheelbase is the biggest in its class at 2.5m, and provides above-average interior space as a result. A glance through the locked doors of the show car confirmed above-average rear room.

Besides riding on an all-new platform, the MG3 also uses a completely new range of four-cylinder engines. Codenamed NSE, they have just debuted in the Roewe 350, and will come in 1.3 and 1.5-litre capacities producing (somewhat average) outputs of 67bhp and 107bhp respectively.

A turbo version of the 1.5 is also a possibility; it produces 156bhp and would give the MG performance more appropriate to the marque?s sporting heritage.

The standard transmission is a five-speed manual, and there?s an automatic option on the 1.5. Liu Tao says there are plans for a diesel, but no date has yet been set for its availability.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/249063/

Looks a lot like the new Audi A1.

 

[argatoga]

Their new design language is aping VW a bit much.

 

[Der Stig]

Yep, and I have Zero interest.

 

[_HighVoltage_]

That thing just looks weird...

 

[BlitzR]

So they are taking up the Mazda naming scheme now?

 

[Der Stig]

And I think they've registered with the Pep Boys monthly garish trim piece club!

 

[public]

"So, what do you drive?" "I've got a 2011 MG Stormtrooper Helmet."

 

[teeb]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but it needs sat on. It needs squashed a bit downwards. It's too upright.

It's very nearly a handsome little hatchback.

 

[-Cpt. J.-]

"So, what do you drive?" "I've got a 2011 MG Stormtrooper Helmet."

HaHa! If you get one in black it is Darth Vaders shiny jockstrap.

 

[Hbriz]

I like the back, the front looks like a VW concept stuck in a lift door, though. Make the front less pinched, and it would be quite a looker.

 

[MOTORLOON1993]

HaHa! If you get one in black it is Darth Vaders shiny jockstrap.

Haha whats this then MG are doing the new power rangers knee caps ,wait are they wheels.

 

[Pedrocas]

From the MG Zero Concept to the new MG 3 supermini:

MG has given its new small hatchback, the MG3, a relatively low-key public debut at the Guangzhou auto show in China.
The firm's parent company, SAIC, revealed no technical information on the car. But it did give it a launch date: March 2011, ahead of the next major Chinese car show in Shanghai in April.

Styled under the co-ordination of MG?s studio in the UK, the MG3 looks like a neat production development of the Zero concept car. It's just under four metres long, 1.728m wide, and 1.517m tall; that makes it as long as a five-door Fiesta, but slightly narrower and taller.
SAIC seems keen to push the car's 'Britishness' - witness the Union Jacks displayed prominently on its stand - and personalisation, with contrasting roof colours and plenty of body stripes.

Information about just one engine spec has emerged from China; it's said to be a 1.5-litre petrol unit producing 109bhp at 6000rpm, and 99lb ft at 4500rpm, enough to get the MG3 to a top speed of 113mph. Those figures would put the car up against a 1.4 petrol Fiesta.
The other engines in the line-up are likely to be a 1.3-litre petrol, with around 67bhp, a diesel (SAIC is still in talks with potential suppliers) and a turbocharged version of the 1.5 petrol, with 156bhp.

The car is being aimed at buyers aged between 18 and 28. Top-spec models will get a CD player-based sound system, but more lowly specs are understood to offer just a USB socket and perhaps a solid-state memory-based MP3 player.
MG Motor UK has yet to even acknowledge the car's existence, let alone detail European specs or a launch date. But it's unlikely to reach UK dealers before 2012, particularly given the delays that have hit the on-sale date of its bigger brother, the MG6. Once pencilled in for a late 2010 release, it's now unlikely to reach buyers until the spring.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle.aspx?AR=254642

And MG is prepping a crossover too:

The Rover Streetwise has been the most popular ?Longbridge Rover? under MG?s reign in China, although the Roewe 750 probably trounces them all. The Streetwise came to China largely unchanged, aside from new wing mirrors, in 2006 and has proven to be a reasonably popular small car for the MG range and has sold better than the MG7. The new MG3 was unveiled last week at the Guangzhou Auto Show and seemed to be popular model with the crowds. Crossover variants of hatchback models have been exceptionally popular in China over the past few years, the craze started with the Suzuki SX4 and continued to gather speed with a series of new car launches from domestic and joint venture manufacturers.

The above pictures show a forthcoming MG3 Streetwise, which will be a second generation Streetwise. Power plants are expected to be the same as the current MG3 ? a 1.3L and a 1.5L and probably a 1.5T as well.

http://www.chinacartimes.com/2010/12/29/mg-readying-mg3-crossover-version/

 

[argatoga]

The production model doesn't look too bad. Generic, but all cars in the segment are.

 

[Aston Martin]

I do hope it has the kseries.

 

[Cobol74]

Well I quite like it myself, just a bit more creasy than the Ford Fiesta - let us hope that the get the internals and transmission right. MPG will be the boss in this segment.

 

[Genesis_73]

its a nice modern design, but its one of those cars i see has looking good on the outside but having a shockingly low grade interior and mechanical parts

 

[captain_70s]

Not bad, oddly angular styling motifs given the generally round shape but it inoffensive at least.

Although I too worry about the quality of the interior and mechanicals, even in the few current interior pics it looks plasticy and cheap. Guess it depends on how much it costs...