Two months after MG unveiled its new 07 fastback in China, the car has turned into an instant hit. SAIC’s British-born brand says it secured more than 10,000 firm orders in just one minute and 57 seconds after opening the books.
Total pre-orders climbed from 45,000 on launch day to 59,000 the next day. MG says demand is already forcing it to expand capacity, with the long-range versions proving much more popular than expected.
The MG 07 was officially launched at the Chengdu Motor Show, with seven battery-electric and plug-in-hybrid versions. Official prices range from 108,900 to 159,900 yuan (€13,900- €20,400), with temporary launch prices starting at 105,900 yuan (€13,500). The cheapest BEV lists at 116,900 yuan, or around €14,900.
That is considerably below the 125,900-yuan pre-sale entry price announced at the end of July, making the almost 4.9-meter fastback aggressively cheap even by Chinese standards.
Buyers want the expensive one
Perhaps more significant than the headline order number is what customers are ordering. According to MG, versions offering more than 800 kilometers of range already account for over 45% of orders, well above its own expectations. Management had already asked CATL to add two battery production lines shortly after pre-sales began.
The flagship BEV combines a 91-kWh CATL battery with an 800-volt architecture, 5C charging and a claimed 845-km CLTC range. The cheaper electric versions use a 67-kWh battery and a 400-volt system for 610 or 650 km of CLTC range.
There are also two plug-in hybrids. They combine a 1.5-liter petrol engine with a 152-kW electric motor and offer a claimed 245 km of electric CLTC range and 1,745 km of combined range. Deliveries of the 650-km BEV start at the end of August, while the 845-km versions follow in October.
As Newmobility.news wrote in June, the MG 07 is particularly interesting for Europe because it has roughly the footprint of a Tesla Model 3 or BYD Seal. But it mixes that mainstream positioning with equipment normally found higher up the market: frameless doors, a liftback tailgate, active rear spoiler, LiDAR and Momenta’s R7 driver-assistance platform.
Europe still not confirmed
MG has still not confirmed a European launch, let alone the timing in Belgium or the Netherlands. Yet the car is no longer invisible to MG’s European organization. MG Motor Europe highlighted the 07 at the Beijing motor show in April as one of the brand’s important new electrified models.
A European arrival during 2027 therefore looks plausible, although far from certain. There is also an internal positioning problem: MG has just brought the more upmarket IM5 electric saloon to Belgium and the Netherlands.
It also offers 800-volt technology and up to 655 km of WLTP range, leaving limited room for another large electric sedan without careful pricing. And pricing is where the MG 07 becomes particularly intriguing.
PHEV could have the easier route
SAIC-built battery-electric cars imported from China currently face the EU’s highest anti-subsidy tariff: 35.3%, on top of the normal import duty. That means nobody should translate the MG 07’s Chinese price directly into a European showroom price.
The plug-in hybrid, however, is not covered (YET) by the current BEV countervailing measure. Unless Brussels extends its trade action to Chinese PHEVs, that could make the 245-km hybrid version much easier for MG to price competitively in Europe than the battery-electric one.
The European Commission has so far declined to speculate on whether it might open a separate investigation into Chinese PHEVs. It would be an ironic outcome for a market trying to phase out combustion engines: the petrol-powered version could be the easiest MG 07 to bring here first.
Longer term, MG has another answer. Its new €200-million factory in Galicia, Spain, is scheduled to start production in 2028 with capacity for up to 120,000 vehicles annually.
MG has not said which models will be built there, so linking the MG 07 to Spain would be premature. But local production could eventually remove much of the tariff handicap now hanging over China-built MG EVs.
For now, Europe can only watch China. If MG converts even part of those 59,000 early orders into deliveries, the MG 07 may become too important a product to keep at home. The question may no longer be whether MG can sell such a car in Europe, but which powertrain it can afford to bring first.
