British Motor Corporation does not build many cars like the MG 5: a 5-door hatchback / 4-door saloon (MG GT) with Petrol engine, built from 2012 as electrification stopped being an experiment and the crossover took every market. Its designer of record is Anthony Williams-Kenny, Steve Harper.
How it came about
The MG5 is a series of compact cars that has been produced by SAIC Motor under the MG marque since 2012. The first generation MG5 was launched on 28 March 2012 in China, and shares the same automotive platform as the Roewe 350 saloon car. In China, the first generation hatchback was sold as the MG5, while the saloon was sold as the MG GT.
The first-generation MG GT was also sold as the MG5 in several markets. The second-generation model is marketed as the MG5 in China and Thailand, and either the MG5 GT or MG GT elsewhere. For most markets outside China and Thailand, the MG5 nameplate is used for a different model, which is the export version of the Roewe i5. Its battery electric version, the Roewe Ei5 is exported to Europe as the MG5 EV.
The hardware
Under the skin sits Petrol engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. The gearbox is a 5-speed manual / 4-speed automatic / 6-speed automatic. The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 2650 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Where it sits in British Motor Corporation's history is not in doubt: the Rover 25 / MG ZR / MG GT (for second generation) came before it; the Roewe i5/MG 5 followed it; it was built at Pukou, Nanjing. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Peugeot 208, the Tesla Model X, the Mazda CX-5. Its British Motor Corporation stablemates include the Austin 10 and the Austin 12.