MG will reportedly celebrate its centenary with a production version of its Cyberster electric sports car.
Autocar reports the EV will be launched as part of the Chinese-owned brand’s centenary celebrations in 2024.
At the Cyberster concept’s reveal early in 2021, the company confirmed it would be built in right-hand drive, opening the door for an Australian launch.
“We have this two-door sports car that we’ve been teasing, which we know is coming, that will be in right-hand [drive] guise at some point. I can’t talk to when, but I know that’s coming,” added MG Australia’s product director and EV division general manager, Danny Lenartic, late last year.
It’s likely to be tamer than the concept, which featured supercar styling and an electric drivetrain with a claimed 0-100km/h time of 3.0 seconds, as well as 800km of range.
Other highlights of the concept include a new module-less battery configuration, plus Level 3 autonomous driving technology.
Mr Lenartic said any MG sports or luxury car would need to be more attainable than its competitors.
MORE: MG wants attainable sports, luxury cars
Not that a production Cyberster, even by 2024, will have much in the way of competition.
Lotus and Alpine will introduce sports cars on the former’s upcoming E-Sports platform, but the Lotus isn’t expected until 2026 and no timing has been announced for the Alpine.
A production Cyberster will give the MG brand a halo model, which could help attract buyers to showrooms who may end up leaving with one of its more mainstream models.
By 2024, MG wants to reach one million sales across 100 global markets. To help meet this goal, it’s planning to expand into new segments and the sports car segment is one of them.
The brand’s products are largely clustered in the light and small car segments, plus the small and mid-sized SUV segments.
MG’s UK design boss, Carl Gotham, hinted to Autocar a toned-down version of the Cyberster concept will make it to dealerships as “sports cars are the lifeblood of the MG DNA”.
He called the Cyberster “a bold statement that looks strongly into MG’s future, touching on our heritage but more importantly building on our cutting-edge technology and advanced design”.
One MG production vehicle that has yet to eventuate is the E-Motion.
Reports from the UK had tipped it to launch in 2021 but it hasn’t appeared yet, even though patent filings were published online in 2020.
Based on the concept revealed at the 2017 Shanghai motor show, the patent filings show a sleek 2+2 coupe that looks much like the concept except for a restyled, rather Aston Martin-like front end.
When MG revealed the E-Motion concept, it said it used a dual-motor battery-electric powertrain, capable of propelling the coupe to 100km/h in around four seconds. Electric range was a claimed 500km.
MG XPower SV 
MG TF
While MG has offered sporty versions of its MG 6 in China, it hasn’t sold a new sports car since coming under the umbrella of Chinese giant SAIC Motor.
The MG TF roadster was last seen here in 2005 when MG Rover went bust, though production continued under new Chinese ownership.
It finally left production in 2011, by which point it was looking decidedly old given its 1995 MG F-vintage bones.
MG also offered another sports car in the 2000s, the Qvale Mangusta-based XPower SV. It died with the defunct MG Rover corporation.
