An overlooked debutant at the recent Bangkok International Motor Show (BIMS) was the revised MG4, and don’t worry, we haven’t accidentally showed you photos of the previous model instead of the new car launched in China last year. The latter will be called the MG4 Urban and, although it hasn’t been launched in Thailand yet, when it does it will slot below the rear-wheel-drive electric hatch that you see here.
The full-fat MG4 has been at the receiving end of some significant updates for 2026 – not that you’d know from looking from the outside because it looks practically identical to the last one, apart from a new Iris Green paint option. Sure, there’s been a rejigging of the variants, and despite this looking like the hot XPower model, this is actually the X Long Range with far less power. More on that later.
Really, the big news is the all-new interior. Gone is the angular dashboard and jutting centre console of old, replaced by a much smoother and more sober design. Eagle-eyed readers will note that this is basically the exact same dash as the MG S5 SUV, replete with a bridge-like centre console with rearranged twin cupholders, Qi wireless charger and rotary gear selector.
As part of the switchover, the screens have been given a huge upgrade. There’s now a 10.25-inch instrument display instead of a seven-inch one, while the touchscreen is much bigger (and taller) at 12.8 inches across. Better yet, you now get physical controls for air-con temperature, fan speed and even air flow direction. Even the steering wheel has gained a third spoke at the bottom for a sportier appearance.
The seats have also been redesigned, and on this X Long Range you get beefier sports seats with six-way power adjustment and ventilation for both driver and passenger. And joy of joys – there are finally rear air-con vents, even if there’s still just one USB port.
Now, on to the oily bits. In Thailand, where the car is CKD locally assembled, all models now use an LFP battery, offering less power and range compared to our European-spec MG4 with NMC packs. The lineup starts with the D Standard Range that makes 170 PS (125 kW) and 250 Nm of torque, and has a 50 kWh battery. By comparison, even our base Lux makes 33 PS (25 kW) more and has a larger 64 kWh battery.
Meanwhile, the X Long Range gains the discontinued XPower’s handsome 18-inch alloy wheels and daft orange fake calliper covers, accompanied by a boost in outputs to 245 PS (180 kW) and 350 Nm – equivalent to our Lux Extended Range. Its battery capacity, on the other hand, is 62.2 kWh, compared to 77 kWh on Malaysia’s Lux Extended Range.
Range is claimed at 450 km for the D Standard Range and 540 km for the X Long Range – broadly similar to the WLTP-rated numbers of the current Malaysian model. However, these numbers were instead achieved on the older, more lenient NEDC cycle, so expect figures closer to 380 km and 460 km respectively on the stricter protocol. The MG4 continues to support up to 140 kW of DC fast charging, taking 26 minutes to top up the X Long Range’s battery from 10 to 80%.
The big benefit of the smaller batteries is pricing. Over in the Land of Smiles, the MG4 starts at just 579,900 baht (RM71,700) for the D Standard Range, rising up to 699,900 baht (RM86,500) for the X Long Range. That’s a damn sight less expensive than the Malaysian model that, even after a price cut, starts at RM100,888 – although our RM100,000 floor price for CBU EVs from last year will have a lot to do with that.
Closer to home, we’d expect the revised MG4 to arrive once CKD local assembly kicks off, although SAIC Motor Malaysia and partner EP Manufacturing (EPMB) will likely be focused on the higher-in-demand S5 for the time being. The question is whether we will get the same specs as Thailand or continue with the Euro model, which gains even more range. On the flip side, we could see the MG4 get discontinued altogether in favour of the cheaper MG4 Urban.
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Back in the late 80s and early 90s japanese car brands were racing against themselves to the max limit when they were trying to produce a new model as fast as 3 years before they realised that they were killing themselves by shooting their own legs. During the life cycle of 4th year, they started to slow things down to 5 years cycle and to a certain extend 6 years life cycle.
Before that Nissan was producing the several models of sunny/sentra/pulsar/cherry/almera all about the same time itself. Even Tan Chong found it hard to follow same family models to choose and decided to skip a few models like B15 and B16 and N14 and N15.
In malaysia the line up was B11 Sunny, N13 Sentra, B12 Sentra, B14 Sentra, N16 Sentra and C11 Latio, before N17 Almera and now N17 turbo 3 pot. B17 came is a 1.8 Sylphy instead since the size was too large.
I won’t start with Toyota, having too many models more than Nissan.
Forgot to write :- this may happen to chinese car brands soon. Won’t take long. To many car models, too frequent facelifts even before I finish this sentence.
“they were killing themselves by shooting their own legs”
-> they were killing their fat profit margins by shooting their own scheming fingers
FTFY
1) Competition is good for the consumer, company’s executive pay going down is the not consumer’s concern.
2) ETCM are just junk, no need to simp for them. They are the ones who do not put any effort to bring in models for years on end that launched in the other ASEAN markets.
There’s one thing about MG is, they do listen to their customers and make the necessary changes based on customer feedbacks. This will definitely sell if price at RM100K plus some rebates.
Please come here!!1!