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British-Born MG Motor Is Even More Asian With New Upgrade of ZS SUV 

MG has an intensely cloudy history – and that holds true even after the troubled brand was saved by the recent Chinese patronage. MG Rover was saved back in 2005 in bits – the MG name and plant went to Nanjing Automobile, and after the latter was absorbed by SAIC Motor it finally settled as the new MG Motor UK Limited. But the new roots run deep, so MG has turned into Great Britain’s biggest importer of Chinese-born automobiles. And the story continues to muddy with the newly facelifted ZS SUV.
2021 MG ZS 24 photos
Photo: MG Motor UK Limited
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If you are familiar with the MG Rover history then you know the crossover moves on muddy waters. If you are not, there is no shame, because British brands tend to make your head spin with all their ups and downs, along with occasional sideways drifts. Let’s take the MG ZS, for example.

Today the nameplate is used for a B-SUV category vehicle. It is the company’s second high-riding model, slotted below the MG GS. But just a few years back, around 2005, the MG ZS was still very much a classic ‘saloon’ - derived as a sportier take from the Rover 45 family car. In turn, the latter was based on the ill-remembered Rover 400 series from the 1990s.

Oh, and just do not make us start on what was wrong with that car. Well, times do change, because now the Brits’ can have the ZS as a very trendy subcompact SUV. And as an MG, although it is not being made at home in the UK. Instead, the MG ZS is a Chinese import, one that just got through its midlife-cycle facelift.

It has been instilled with philosophical slogans such as the “Evolved for Life!” tagline, and we cannot help but see how the universe kind of laughs at the British – back in the day the Chinese were fearing the Hong Kong-dominion was a beachhead for the Empire. Now one might argue the automotive industry is one place where the roles have been reversed.

The MG ZS, on the other hand, is an honest little SUV. It still comes with a design that seems to have been snitched from the recent crop of Mazda SUVs. But the facelift adds quite a few novelties. There is a new color - Battersea Blue, along with exterior styling revisions and full LED headlights across the range. Two new alloy designs, each 17-inch in diameter, are also available.

Inside, the changes are even more significant: refined trim and a modified dashboard, a new 10.1-inch infotainment touchscreen with support for both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The top of the range Exclusive trim comes with additional benefits – the most important being the introduction of a fully digital instrument cluster.

MG has already started sales for the upgraded ZS beginning with the first of July, with prices quoted as kicking off locally at £15,495 OTR. Just one engine option is available to go with the revisions - a 1.5-liter VTI rated at 106 PS and 104 lb ft (141 Nm). It really isn’t much, but the ZS does sprint to 62 mph (100 kph) in a serene 10.9 seconds.
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About the author: Aurel Niculescu
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Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
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