Joining Denza and Mercedes-AMG in debuting new cars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed is MG, which is showing off the Go! and Cyber at Lord March’s front lawn. However, while the others are holding production world premieres, the two vehicles from the Chinese-owned British brand are only concepts, although they are interesting all the same.
Of these, it’s the Go! that’s the closest to production, with MG outright declaring that the car presages a B-segment hatchback that will go on sale next year. Outlets like Autocar tip it to be called the MG2, hinting that it will complement the MG3 hybrid rather than replace it.
The design of the show car is admittedly fairly loutish, with the deep front splitter, U-shaped scoops and tow hooks bringing to mind the ’80s Metro Turbo and even the wild 6R4 Group B rally car. There are also heavily-flared fenders, rectangular cutouts for the side skirts, a jutting tailgate spoiler and cavernous rear diffuser channels, plus massive plus-shaped centre-lock wheels.
Strip all the fripperies away, however, and the Go! is a surprisingly minimalist design, and MG says this is a deliberate callback to the MGB GT’s simple elegance. There’s an upright glasshouse with a wraparound windscreen; together with the rounded headlights with vertical light guides, this brings to mind the MINI Cooper, while the slim taillights a reminiscent of the C-shaped ones on the Mazda Vision X-Compact concept.
Not much is known about the MG2, with Autocar only reporting that the car will be around four metres in length. That makes it smaller than the MG3 (4,113 mm) and around the same size as the Renault 5 (3,922 mm) and Fiat Grande Panda (3,999 mm).
Next up is the Cyber Concept, which jumps on the bandwagon of Ferrari Purosangue-aping Chinese super-SUVs with its pumped-up fenders, swooping low-slung roofline and gloss black wheel arches. Its maker, however, claims that the car instead draws inspiration from the EX181 land speed record car, which seems just a touch spurious. In any case, MG has previously already built a homage to the speedster with the EXE181 concept.
The Cyber is the latest in the line of cars that include the Cyberster convertible and last year’s Cyber X SUV concept. The company says that while the Cyberster is a realisation of its dream to build a sports car again, the new model envisages its expansion into the premium electric D-segment SUV market, with a production version already confirmed.
GALLERY: MG Go!
GALLERY: MG Cyber Concept
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
