Iconic British motoring brand and now Chinese SAIC-owned MG will debut its latest electric concept, dubbed Cyberster, at the Shanghai motor show in coming weeks.
Looking to reach out to a new generation of drivers, the new electric concept has been designed at the carmaker’s advanced design centre in London, and is billed as “the world’s first pure electric supercar gaming cockpit”.
At the same time, the all-electric roadster is somewhat of a swansong to MG’s classic MGB Roadster, a reinterpretation of the days of old melded into the future of automotive, says Carl Gotham, Director of SAIC Design Advanced London.
“The Cyberster is 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.
“Sports cars are the lifeblood of the MG DNA and Cyberster is a hugely exciting concept for us.”
This time, MG brings a new category that best interprets the characteristics of the Cyber product line which presents the four major characteristics of the Cyber product line: high-energy romantic design aesthetics, advanced performance, smart technology and super-sensing gaming cockpit.
In terms of appearance, MG Cyberster adopts MG’s new design concept blends speed and passion in the real and virtual worlds. “Magic Eye” headlights that echo classic round MG lamps open when the vehicle is activated, while an LED strip down the side of the car accentuate the roadster feels.
Internally, MG Cyberster is kitted out with module-free battery technology, which promises a driving range of 800 kilometres, and acceleration from 0-100km/hr in under three seconds.
Chinese media report that the Cyberster will come equipped with L3 intelligent driving technology, and intelligent navigation. All dimensions such as ability, mode, experience, and content can be upgraded, realizing a multi-faceted vehicle upgrade experience.
It’s worth mentioning that MG Cyberster is not simply a concept car. MG says it plans to mass-produce it in the future, as long as there is the demand for it. To gauge this, it has launched the “MG Cyber Cube”, a demand generation platform divided into crowdfunding and crowd-creation, with interest in crowdfunding to determine whether MG Cyberster will be built.
MG will launch its Cyberster “crowdfunding plan” on April 19, and Chinese media reports that if this reaches the goal of 50 million yuan, MG will start mass production of models.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.