MG IM5

Upmarket saloon offers 742bhp and a 357-mile range for less than £50k

- RICHARD LANE

European law makers are scrambling to protect the interests of their homegrown car makers, but the torrent of temptingly priced, technologically rapier-sharp Chinese EVs simply flows on. The latest insurgent is this, the MG IM5.

It's a saloon (well, a hatchback, technically) priced on a par with the Tesla Model 3 but promising the space of the Volkswagen ID 7 plus tech that you would more typically find on a Porsche Taycan - not least an 800V electrical architecture available on the more expensive derivatives. There is also, if you'd like, the small matter of 742bhp.

We will get into the hardware in a moment, but before that, you're possibly wondering what the 'IM' in the name is about. Those initials hold meaning, because they speak to the fact that this new MG isn't really an MG. It's a badge-engineered version of the Chinese-market IM L6, made by Intelligence in Motion, a Shanghai-based brand created in 2020 by MG parent company SAIC (the majority owner), e-commerce colossus Alibaba and Zhangjiang Hi-Tech.

This arrangement is a big deal, because the L6 is a lot more luxurious than anything MG has so far sold since its reimagining as an EV brand, notwithstanding the Cyberster roadster halo model.

In truth, the IM5 is only barely badge-engineered. For reasons we still don't quite understand, there are no actual MG logos on the car, only an 'MG' in IM's squiggly typeface on the bootlid.

It follows that the IM5 (and its IM6 SUV counterpart) use a platform separate from anything else we've known underneath an MG. With half an eye on the future, it's already compatible with solid-state battery technology, but for now cradles either a 75kWh LFP battery with an 400V architecture or a 100kWh NMC battery with an 800V one. These respectively enable rapid-charging rates of 153kW and a market-leading 400kW.