The MG3 is a
small car produced by the Chinese automotive company
SAIC. The first generation, marketed as the MG3 SW, is based on the British made
Rover Streetwise
The Rover Streetwise is a compact British car made by MG Rover. It was based on the Rover 25, but had an increased ride height and chunkier bumpers. The car was marketed by Rover as an 'urban on-roader'. Production ended in April 2005, due to t ...
, which itself was based on the
Rover 25
The Rover 200 Series, and later the Rover 25, are a series of small family cars that were produced by British manufacturer Rover (marque), Rover from 1984 until 2005.
There have been three distinct generations of the Rover 200. The first gener ...
, while the second generation, introduced in 2011 is marketed simply as the MG3. It is the most popular Chinese manufactured car currently on sale in the United Kingdom.
First generation (2008)
Overview
The first generation MG3 SW is essentially a
rebadged
In the automotive industry, rebadging is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. To allow for product differentiation without designing or engineering a new model or brand (at high cost or risk), a man ...
version of the
Rover Streetwise
The Rover Streetwise is a compact British car made by MG Rover. It was based on the Rover 25, but had an increased ride height and chunkier bumpers. The car was marketed by Rover as an 'urban on-roader'. Production ended in April 2005, due to t ...
, which had ceased production in April 2005 after the bankruptcy of predecessor organisation
MG Rover
MG Rover Group was the last domestically owned mass-production car manufacturer in the British motor industry. The company was formed when BMW sold the car-making and engine manufacturing assets of the original Rover Group to the Phoenix Consor ...
. It started production in 2008 at SAIC's
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
factory in
Pukou
Pukou District (), is one of 11 districts of Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, China, lying northwest across the Yangtze River from downtown Nanjing.
The district was formerly the southern terminus of the Tianjin-Pukou Railway; railcars ...
,
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
. The MG3 SW is only on sale in China, and cannot be exported by SAIC.
Engines
Second generation (2011)
The second-generation MG3 was shown at the 2010
Beijing Auto Show
Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, Beijing Motor Show or Auto China () is an auto show held biennially in Beijing, China since 1990. China is currently the largest auto market in the world.
2020
The 2020 Auto China show was due to open ...
, in the form of the MG Zero
concept car
A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...
. The new model uses an all new
automotive platform
A car platform is a shared set of common design, engineering, and production efforts, as well as major components, over a number of outwardly distinct models and even types of cars, often from different, but somewhat related, marques. It is prac ...
with a
wheelbase
In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...
of 2.5 m, featuring
MacPherson strut
The MacPherson strut is a type of automotive suspension system that uses the top of a telescopic damper as the upper steering pivot. It is widely used in the front suspension of modern vehicles, and is named for American automotive engineer Ear ...
front suspension and a
torsion beam
The twist-beam rear suspension (also torsion-beam axle, deformable torsion beam or compound crank) is a type of automobile suspension based on a large H or C-shaped member. The front of the H attaches to the body via rubber bushings, and the ...
rear axle. The development work took place in the United Kingdom, with production initially in China.
The car went on sale in China in the spring of 2011. Engine options at launch consist of a choice of 1.3 (1343 cc) and 1.5 litre (1498 cc), rated at and respectively, with either a five speed manual transmission, or an Italian
AMT transmission called ''e-shift''.
MG 3 Xross
The second generation MG3 is also available in a
crossover
Crossover may refer to:
Entertainment
Albums and songs
* ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album)
* ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987
* ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album)
* ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album)
* ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...
style variant (similar to the Rover Streetwise and MG3 SW), known as the MG3 Xross. The Xross is only available with the 1.5 litre engine.
Facelift (2013)
A restyled version of the MG3, with a revised front design, was announced in the spring of 2013, with sales in the United Kingdom beginning in September 2013, but only with the 1.5 litre engine option.
It was claimed that it would be built for Europe at the
Longbridge plant in Birmingham alongside the larger
MG6
__NOTOC__
British NVC community MG6 (''Lolium perenne - Cynosurus cristatus'' grassland) is one of the mesotrophic grassland communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of four such communities associated with ...
. The MG3 was assembled there from 2014 until 2016.
For 2016, the MG3 received several alterations to improve it: the installation of an EU 6 derivative of the standard 1.5-litre engine, developed by
SAIC Motor UK
SAIC Motor Technical Centre (also known as SMTC UK) is subsidiary of the Chinese automaker SAIC Motor via SAIC Motor UK Holdings. SAIC Motor also controls MG Motor UK for sales and distribution, but is independent of the technical subsidiary. ...
, a
stop start was fitted, and two-tone colour schemes, primarily on the red and yellow MG3's which can have either a black or white roof, were offered as options.
Engines
The MG 3 is only available with a 1.5L Engine, which has received an EU 6 upgrade to reduce emissions, and also the addition of
stop start.
MG3 Trophy
MG unveiled the MG3 Trophy Championship concept car at the MG90 event at
Silverstone
Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...
in June 2014.
The MG3 Trophy Championship concept, based on the MG3 production vehicle platform and created to highlight in-house engineering, design and calibration capabilities by SMTC UK at Longbridge, continues the MG tradition of club racing.
The racing concept was created solely by a team of engineers, managed by Vehicle Engineering Specialist Adrian Guyll, and based at SAIC Motor's European Design and Technical Centre (SMTC), located alongside MG Motor UK at the Longbridge site in Birmingham.
Specifications:
* 204 BHP 152 KW (increased from 106PS)
* Torque 250 Nm (increased from 136 NM)
* Boost 1.0 Bar
* 1.5 Vti Tech engine
* Full body-lightening programme without compromising on stiffness
* Limited slip differential
* Fully adjustable Macpherson strut front set up
* Bespoke anti-roll bar
* Adjustable front splitter
* Twin plane adjustable rear spoiler
Second facelift (2018)
The MG3 was revised in 2018 with a facelift to the exterior and a new interior. The interior redesign now includes space for an eight-inch touchscreen unit, which is fitted as standard to some models. The 1.5-litre engine received minor modifications to bring it up to EU 6D standards, and now rated at 140g/km for emissions.
Chinese models are available with a slightly more powerful 1.5 litre engine option mated to a four speed automatic gearbox. In Thailand, the MG3 was launched on 21 June 2018. The models were only in 1.5L engine and four speed automatic. Transmission included ''1.5 C'', ''1.5 D'', ''1.5 X Sunroof'' and ''1.5 V Sunroof''. In Brunei, the MG 3 was launched since the middle of 2019. The models were only in 1.5L engine and four speed automatic. Transmission included ''Core'' and ''Excite''.
Safety
The MG3 was crash tested by
Euro NCAP
The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) is a European voluntary car safety performance assessment programme (i.e. a New Car Assessment Program) based in Leuven (Belgium) formed in 1996, with the first results released in February ...
in 2014, receiving a score of 3 out of 5 stars for safety, with a 69% score for adult protection (lower than the 90% result for the Mitsubishi Mirage), which was valid in accordance with Euro NCAP's testing standards until June 2020. According to analysis of the results of multiple crash tests by Euro NCAP, a number of issues were found including the driver's head bottoming out on the steering wheel through the airbag; "The passenger compartment remained stable in the frontal impact. The airbags of both the driver and the passenger were not sufficiently inflated to prevent the head 'bottoming out', through the fabric of the airbag, against the steering wheel and dashboard, respectively.
..However, structures in the dashboard were considered a risk to occupants of different sizes or to those sat in different positions and protection of the knee/femur/pelvis area was rated as marginal".
In a rear impact test, the crash test dummy measurements produced marginal results for front seat whiplash protection, and poor protection for rear seat occupants, the lowest score possible.
The facelifted MG3 did not involve a change to the basic architecture underpinning the vehicle, with the design carrying over the same overall shape, and thus the protection afforded by the chassis has not changed throughout the production of the second generation MG3. The rating of 3 out of 5 stars remained unchanged during Euro NCAP's annual review in July 2018, for the facelifted variant.
The MG3 has not been crash tested, nor rated by ANCAP. The facelifted variant lacks any active safety features such as autonomous emergency braking, instead including basic safety provisions such as six airbags (two prior to the facelift), passenger airbag cut off switch, emergency braking assistance, electronic stability control, active cornering brake control system, hill hold control, ABS with electronic brakes, automatic door unlocking in case of accidents, front disk brakes, tyre pressure monitoring, speed sensitive door locking, ultra-high tensile steel body, seat belt warning alarm and vehicle immobilizer.
An MG3 was tested by
ASEAN NCAP
The New Car Assessment Program for Southeast Asia, or known as ASEAN NCAP, is an automobile safety rating program jointly established by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) and Global New Car Assessment Program (Global NCAP ...
in May 2018, producing a poor score of 2 stars out of a possible 5, with the car receiving a score of 0 in the frontal impact test due to poor protection of the driver's head, causing it to bottom out through the airbag as found in Euro NCAP's testing. Contrastingly, ASEAN NCAP found that the test vehicle protected the occupant's legs better, "The model was tested by Euro NCAP in 2014 however, the performance for both NCAPs are different. In ASEAN NCAP test, the MG3 performed better in the lower legs area. Nevertheless, the driver's head sustained serious injury compared to Euro NCAP's."
[https://www.aseancap.org/v2/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/MG-3-Digital-Report-for-Web.pdf ]
Sales
References
External links
*
{{MG timeline 2000 to date, state=expanded
3
2010s cars
MG 3 (first generation)
MG 3 (second generation)
Subcompact cars
Front-wheel-drive vehicles
Hatchbacks
Cars of China
ASEAN NCAP superminis
Euro NCAP superminis