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Continuing with the recent influx of Chinese EVs dominating the electric segment in Australia, MG has announced the launch of its premium brand, IM Motors with two new products. While the official name is a bit of a mouthful at ‘IM Presented by MG Motor’, the cars are targeted at the volume-centric luxury EV space with being a low-slung sedan and a swoopy crossover SUV.
The brand is an electric vehicle joint venture between Chinese automobile manufacturer SAIC Motor and Chinese technology giants including Alibaba Group.
IM stands for ‘Intelligence in Motion’ while the IM5 and IM6 are called LM6 sedan and SUV in China. These cars will arrive at Australian MG dealerships later in the year while prices and specifications will be announced soon. However, we expect the Australian vehicles to arrive with both the 83kWh battery pack and the top-end 100 kWh iteration with a supercar rivalling 776 hp on offer thanks to dual motors. Both the sedan and the SUV will do 0-100 km/h in under 4 seconds in their fastest versions while the claimed range would be north of 800km per charge.
However, more than the performance, the luxurious cabins stand out with a screen fest including a separate one for climate control and plush materials scattered across the dashboard. We haven’t even mentioned the office-like interior of the IM6 sedan.
Meanwhile, the IM5 is a sleek Tesla Model 3 rival with generous proportions while the IM6 is a size larger than rivals. The cars are spacious with ample luggage space and lots of equipment would be on offer as well. The interior design is similar to the Porsche Taycan in the way the centre console separates the cabin into two ‘zones’.
“We’re thrilled to introduce IM Presented by MG Motor to the Australian market,” said MG Motor Australia’s Chief Executive Officer, Peter Ciao.
“With cutting-edge innovation wrapped in elegant design, both the IM5 and IM6 deliver an uncompromising blend of performance, refinement, and range – offering drivers the freedom to go further in absolute comfort. This is the future of premium electric mobility, and we’re proud to bring it to Australia and further extend our EV offering to Australian drivers.”
To back up his comments, Chief Operating Officer of MG Motor Australia, Giles Belcher said “MG is proud to offer an EV for Everyone.”
“We have our best-selling all-electric MG4, our electric SUV the ZS EV which will soon be replaced with the MG S5 EV and our first all-electric roadster, the Cyberster. With the introduction of IM Presented by MG Motor we now bring a new premium range of EVs to the Australian market with the IM5 and IM6.”
Expected to make their debut at the Melbourne Motor Show next month, it is interesting that these cars would be sold at the same MG showrooms as their current range despite their expected premium positioning. However, the brand is increasingly targeting a premium clientele with cars like the Cyberster Roadster which came last year.
We expect prices to land somewhere upwards of AUD$80,000 and could even dip into the $120,000 range to compete with the new range of premium electric vehicles coming out of China, including brands like Zeekr and even Lotus.
