MG has unveiled a new HS that looks bigger and more modern inside and out and will be available here soon.
The next HS generation is scheduled to hit the market in Australia in the second half of 2024. This will bring down the curtain on the current model, which only came onto the market here in early 2020.
With dimensions of 4636 mm long (+26 mm) and 1890 mm wide (+14 mm) and a wheelbase of 2750 mm (+26 mm), the HS has grown in almost every direction.
However, it is 30mm lower than the previous model, which MG attributes to its slimmer profile.
Inside, there are two 12.3-inch screens – one a digital instrument cluster, the other an infotainment touchscreen – housed in the same assembly.
MG Motor Australia has revealed little information about the new car, which will premiere at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
It combines a version of MG’s new corporate face, as seen on vehicles such as the latest MG 3, with the body of the RX5 from SAIC Motor’s fellow brand Roewe.
This model debuted in China in 2022.
Details of the local HS’s powertrain have yet to be announced, but it is expected to initially launch with a gasoline engine and later be offered as a plug-in hybrid.
The new HS has already been spotted on local test drives; petrol models also appear in the government’s registration documents.
Regulatory documents state that the MG HS petrol range will be offered in five variants: three are equipped with a 1.5-litre turbo engine and a dual-clutch automatic transmission, and two with a 2.0-litre turbo engine and a nine-speed automatic transmission with torque converter.
In China, the RX5’s turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine produces 138kW of power and 300Nm of torque – 19kW and 50Nm more than the outgoing HS 1.5T – and is mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
There is currently no 2.0-litre turbo available in the Chinese RX5 range, but SAIC Motor offers such an engine – complete with a nine-speed automatic – in other products such as the MG 7 sedan, which is also due to be launched in Australia.
The MG 7’s 2.0-litre engine produces 192kW of power and 405Nm of torque, 24kW and 45Nm more than the 2.0-litre engine in the outgoing HS.
The RX5 will be offered in China with two 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder plug-in hybrid powertrains, one with a range of 135 km in the CLTC cycle and the other with a range of 61 km in the NEDC cycle. It is not yet clear which one will be available here.
It is also unclear how much the price increase will be for the larger and more powerful model of the new generation.
Currently, the MG HS is available from $29,990 before on-road costs, while the HS Plus EV is available from $49,690 ready to drive.
The HS is the least popular model in the current MG range in Australia, even though the mid-size SUV segment is the largest in Australia by volume.
MG sold 1,618 units in the first half of 2024, 65.3 percent fewer than in the same period last year.
SAIC Motor often markets Roewe and LDV/Maxus products as MGs in markets such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East, but Australia has not yet received such vehicles.
The HS has been significantly redesigned compared to these vehicles to better fit aesthetically into MG’s product range.
Alongside the RX5-based HS, the larger Roewe RX9 will likely serve as a donor vehicle for MG’s first three-row SUV in Australia.
MORE: Everything MG HS