To say that the MG brand has come a long way in a short time is to rather dramatically undersell what has been an astonishing rebirth of one of motoring’s great names, under Chinese ownership.
MG seemed to have been dead and done in 2004, as the MG Rover company, born out of the wreckage of the old Rover Group, finally breathed its last. MG had become, in the 1930s, one of the great sports car brands, with affection backed up by motor sports victories and even an occasional land speed record.
By the 1950s and 1960s, MG was really into its stride with the gorgeous MGA and latterly the MGB, which would become the world’s best-selling two-seat sports car until the Mazda MX-5 took that trophy in the late 1990s.
However, by the 1970s MG – like so much of the once mighty British motor industry – was on life support, and the MGB, launched in 1962, limped on listlessly until 1982. The badge was kept alive by being used as Austin Rover’s hot-hatch brand, and latterly through a proper sports car revival in 1995 with the delightful, if flawed, MGF. 2004, though, seemed like the end of days.
However, the Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation (SAIC) swept in and scooped up the post-collapse wreckage of MG Rover and decided that the bit that was worth saving was the MG badge. Stick that on to some otherwise humdrum cars developed with Chinese engineering and budget largesse, and you’d have a recognised brand ripe for global expansion.
MG restarted cautiously, with a few somewhat dreary models, before hitting big with the new ZS crossover, which became one of the brand’s first electric cars. To be fair, that ZS was dreary enough in itself (no fun at all to drive) but buyers liked its pricing and practicality, and so MG’s rebirth really kicked up a gear.
Now, in early 2025, we stand at a point where MG can start making sports cars again – the expensive, but rather lovely, electric MG Cyberster complete with its Instagram-friendly Lamborghini-style doors – while also shrugging off the “…but it’s cheap” suffix of justification that followed most of its revival models around.
Indeed, this new MG HS hybrid SUV can almost do without the suffix or the justification. It’s good enough to stand tall with the best of them.
For a start, it looks nice. The previous HS looked okay too, but was visually a bit of a pastiche of Mazda’s first-gen CX-5. This new HS is sharper by far, and very handsome if perhaps a touch generic. In the metallic grey paint of our test car, you could easily lose it in a crowded car park amid the hordes of other metallic grey SUVs. Wonder if MG has any spare orange paint left over from the MG4 electric hatchback?
Inside, the HS arguably represents the biggest step forward by a modern MG model, bar the slightly odd multi-screened Cyberster. Perceived quality has taken a big step up, so that the sense of built-to-a-price-ness that pervades even the impressive MG4 EV isn’t present here. Sure, there are a couple of cheap bits and pieces (true of most cars, even premium-badge stuff these days), but MG has clearly invested in the right bits as the stuff you touch and use every day – the steering wheel, the column stalks, the gear selector – all feel really good.
The front seats are comfy and the back seats are roomy, although this is one large-ish SUV that doesn’t come with a seven-seat option, as the hybrid battery gets in the way. Still, while the 507-litre boot isn’t the biggest in the world, it’s probably enough for most.
MG has also worked hard on its twin 12.3-inch screens – instruments and infotainment doubled-up in one big sweep across the dash – as the graphics look far smarter than they used to, and it’s easier now to get the instrument panel set up with the information you want and need.
However, the infotainment screen is a bit of a mess when it comes to usability. Note to MG, and to all carmakers: please don’t fit a driver distraction monitor that beeps angrily at you for even flicking your eyes away from dead ahead, and then also put pretty much every single control on to a touchscreen with an inconsistent menu layout. Better yet, give us a few physical controls for things that need quick access, such as climate control buttons and a radio volume control. The HS doesn’t actually have one of those at all, bar the button on the steering wheel.
While the touchscreen will never not be maddening, the MG HS does rather better with how it drives. Some markets get a petrol-only HS model, but we only get the plug-in hybrid which combines a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine with a 21.4kWh battery pack, topped up by a 7.4kW AC charging socket mounted on the left rear shoulder of the car.
Fully charged, MG claims an electric-only range of up to 120km and that’s not unrealistic. Even in mixed driving conditions, with the air conditioning going, we easily managed 90km, so with a little more care and attention, 100km-plus seems doable. It’s hugely impressive in that respect, and impressive too in its overall economy. Starting with a full battery and a full fuel tank, over a 300km journey we managed to average 5.9 litres per 100km, although motorway consumption was more like 7.0-litres per 100km to be fair.
Performance is good too, with 299hp and 350Nm giving the HS a fleet-footed 6.8 second 0-100km/h time, and mid-range performance is more than solid.
It’s also a really rather nice car to drive. The steering is numb, but responsive all the same and the HS’s body control is impressive too, so it never feels sloppy nor floppy. Of course, the reason for this is that MG seems to have tightened down the HS’s springs a bit too much, so the ride quality is really over-firm and too fidgety on anything other than a smooth surface. Compared with rivals, it betters the softly-softly BYD Seal-U plug-in hybrid for driver engagement, but neither can match the all-round performance of Toyota’s ageing, but still impressive, RAV4 PHEV (even if the RAV runs out of electric puff as much as 40km before the Chinese pair).
That said, while the Toyota remains better overall to drive, even in top-spec Exclusive form, the HS is some €9,000 less expensive, and definitely has the Toyota beat for EV range on one charge. This is a superior kind of PHEV, one in which you could easily and without effort conduct your Monday-to-Friday driving on electric power, saving the fuel and the 1.5 turbo for longer weekend jaunts. For many of us, it might be a better way of going electric until such time as someone steps up and installs a truly functional national charging network.
In the meantime, fix the ride, put in some actual switches in the cabin and give us a touchscreen that works, and the MG HS would be close to faultless.
Lowdown: MG HS Plug-In Hybrid Exclusive
Power: 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine with 135kW motor and 21.4kWh lithium-ion battery producing 299hp and 350 of torque and powering the front wheels via a two-speed automatic transmission.
CO2 emissions (annual motor tax): 12g/km (€180)
Fuel consumption: 0.5l/100km (WLTP)
0-100km/h: 6.8secs
Price: €43,995 as tested, HS starts from €40,995
Our rating: 3/5
Verdict: It’s let down by an awkward touchscreen but the MG HS is a solid SUV performer, with impressive electric range.
