FULL OF EASTERN PROMISE

The biggest threat the Volkswagen ID 3 has yet faced has emerged from China in the form of the MG 4 EV. Richard Lane sees if it's now the best electric family hatchback money can buy

-  Richard Lane

MG versus Volkswagen is hardly the most storied rivalry. For the 85 years they've co-existed, the two have kept out of one another's way, the British marque has built its reputation in sports cars, and the German marque staying true to its name. At most, we've had the odd skirmish. Remember the ZR hot hatch? It was better than its gussied-up Rover 25 looks suggested, making it an interesting alternative to the Mk5 Golf GTI. And perhaps, in the 1980s, certain Austins cunningly rebadged as MGs were targeted at more successful Wolfsburg products. However, they felt more homage than hit job. The Montego even used a Volkswagen gearbox and the Maestro's front-axle design was pinched from the Golf. Phoney war, if anything.

However, in 2022, the relationship shifts dramatically and becomes all the juicier, because the new, Chinese-built MG 4 EV isn't some esoteric alternative to the popular Volkswagen ID 3, and neither is it a shameless copycat. This time round it really is an attempt at a cold-blooded hit job on the car that today sits centrally in Volkswagen's spiritual heartland.

MG's electric family hatch is not only interesting to look at but on paper matches the ID 3 in all key areas except value for money, where and there's no other way to put this it monsters its quarry. This feels like the moment when MG truly arrives in its modern guise, post-collapse MG Rover having been bought in 2005 by Nanjing Automobile Corporation, which was then bought by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. SAIC initially tried to revive the TF but later realized that, if anything, it was value-driven electric cars that were going to provide the breakthrough. The 4 gives it lift-off.