MG is drawing on its heritage for its new compact electric car

► New MG small EV previewed ► MG2 will arrive in 2027 as firm’s smallest and cheapest EV ► Set to lean on retro design

MG is preparing to enter the bustling small electric car segment, and this ‘Go!’ concept car is a first glimpse of what it will look like.

Unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed alongside MG’s Cyber Concept, which previews a larger and posher electric SUV, the firm is leaning on its retro roots for its new small EV.

In a not too dissimilar fashion to the Renault 5 and Mini Cooper Electric, MG says it’s channelling its most ‘youthful and expressive designs’ from the company’s former British past. The fact one of the photos has it parked next to an MGB GT gives a hint at the models it appreciates most from its past.

The concept has been designed by MG’s Design Centre in London, which has also come up with the final production car. A large grille surround and circular headlights immediately make it seem quite ‘Mini’, but there’s more to it than that with its neat proportions and various sporty elements, including a big roof spoiler and large side sills that make it look instantly like a hot hatch. The latter immediately makes us think of the MG ZR.

MG’s new small EV will sit in the same market as the current petrol and hybrid MG3, but it will use a completely different EV-specific platform, and we expect this new EV to be called MG2.

The firm says the production car will keep a ‘deliberately simple’ design language and that it’s ‘not just a retro exercise’. The fact MG is leaning on its past sporting model hints at a racier-feeling and looking EV than we’ve not really seen yet from the brand’s more everyday models.

Carl Gotham, design director of MG’s London design studio, said: ‘It is not about looking back for its own sake, but about capturing some of the clarity, charm and emotional appeal that have always made MG so distinctive, and reinterpreting that in a way that feels relevant today and crucially creating something with strong charisma.’

Few details are given about the production model, other than that MG will launch as a ‘new B-segment electric hatch in 2027’. It will join an already expansive line-up of electric MGs, with the firm already offering seven EVs, ranging from the MG4 Urban up until the Cyberster sports car. Keen pricing will be a key element of the new electric supermini, with sub-£20,000 expected when the car eventually launches.