MG confirms Toyota Prado rival for Australia, due after 2027

DRIVE EXCLUSIVE

MG has confirmed plans for its first large, off-road capable SUV in Australia to fight the popular Ford Everest, Toyota Prado and Isuzu MU-X.

It forms part of MG’s plan to place among Australia’s Top Three selling new-car brands by the end of the decade, ahead of established marques such as Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi and compatriot GWM.

The vehicle – speculatively illustrated at the top of this story by artist Theottle – remains at least two years from showrooms, arriving sometime after 2027, but it has been locked in for showrooms by decision-makers at MG’s parent company SAIC in Shanghai.

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“SUV D, we already have QS, but I need one more SUV D – an off-road SUV,” MG Motor Australia CEO Peter Ciao told Drive.

SUV D is the car-industry term for a large SUV, whether it be a car-derived vehicle such as a Toyota Kluger, Hyundai Santa Fe or MG’s own QS (below), or a heavy-duty off-roader along the lines of the Everest and Prado.

“[It’s] not [a] discussion,” Ciao said, alongside confirmation of plans for an MG city SUV below the ZS, “we already have the plan. The models, they’re coming. Already decisioned [sic].”

“The goal is Top Three. We want to cover each segment in this market. We have the resource.”

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Asked if it could arrive in 2027, he said: “Maybe a little bit later.”

Technical details of the vehicle are yet to be revealed. It is likely to be a seven-seater, but MG has not confirmed the seating capacity or dimensions.

MG already sells a pair of seven-seat SUVs in India, the Gloster and Majestor, but both are rebranded versions of sister brand LDV’s D90 off-road SUV, respectively – the former based on the pre-facelift model, and the latter based on the current, new-look iteration.

While MG Australia will not plan to sell these vehicles, there is scope for it to take a similar strategy for its new-generation Prado competitor: rebranding an eventual replacement for the D90.

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MG is preparing to introduce its first ute, the U9, as a rebadged and reworked version of the new LDV Terron 9 dual-cab – and it is conceivable that its underpinnings would form the basis of the next D90, just as the current model is based on LDV’s older T60 ute.

“The investment of one platform is [a] very huge [amount of] money,” Ciao said, when asked if MG would share development of the off-road SUV with LDV.

“In the auto industry, even before with France and the Japanese, they are two companies and [share] investment money for one platform, then they develop a different body for different brands, for different vehicles.

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“This is similar, because SAIC is the group, but LDV and MG are two companies, so we work together and [share] the investment.

“MG will focus on MG’s business strategy and request, okay, ‘what’s the car, what’s the technology I need?’ But the platform, somewhere we [will] share.”

If the off-road SUV uses the bones of the U9 and Terron 9 utes, it remains to be seen how it would look, and if its styling would be a vast departure from the dual-cabs.

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The LDV D90 shares little on the outside with the T60, but most rival 4WD SUVs use the same front section of the body – the front doors, windscreen, wheel arches and bonnet, even if the bumpers are different – with their ute siblings.

The illustration at the top of this story, created by Theottle, depicts an MG off-road SUV with the U9’s front doors and windscreen, but few other shared exterior parts.

It would likely use the 2.5-litre single-turbo diesel engine from the U9, given the vast majority of vehicles sold in the Everest and Prado’s category use diesel, not petrol power.

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