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It’s official! MG will launch a pick-up in Australia and it will be here sooner than you think.
The Chinese-owned British manufacturer chose the Melbourne Motor Show for the official global reveal of the big ute, highlighting Australia’s importance to MG Motor.
Dubbed the MG U9, the ute will be called P9 in its Chinese home market, and it has some familiar underpinnings.
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MG is part of the giant SAIC Motor Group which also owns LDV (called Maxus in other markets), and the MG U9 shares its platform and mechanicals with the LDV Terron 9.
The all-electric eTerron 9 has been confirmed for an Australian launch by LDV this year, but MG is unlikely to offer a battery electric version of the U9 here, at least not initially.
@carsguide.com.au MG’s first ute revealed at Melbourne Motor Show last night! #MG #U9 #car #carsguide #fyp
The U9 will be offered exclusively in dual-cab body style - there are no plans for single-cabs - and it rides on a ladder frame chassis much like the vast majority of other utes offered here.
There’s no shortage of rivals either, with fellow Chinese offerings like the GWM Cannon and Cannon Alpha, BYD Shark 6 and new JAC T9, as well as longer running nameplates like the Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger, Isuzu D-Max, Nissan Navara, Mitsubishi Triton, Volkswagen Amarok and the upcoming Kia Tasman.
It will be powered by a new 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine delivering power of 164kW - a little more poke than the Kia Tasman’s 2.2L 154kW engine. It’ll be paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission and promises to have off-road capabilities.
Ensuring it keeps up with its popular rivals, the MG U9 will have a towing capacity of 3.5 tonnes and a one-tonne payload.
Hybridisation is on the cards too with the U9 expected to gain a plug-in hybrid version eventually, although MG has not revealed any details on this yet.
The U9 is a large ute and will come with some nifty features, according to MG. The rear tailgate has an additional step that locks down and allows access to the tub. But the cool party trick is that the rear of the cabin opens up to allow access from the interior of the ute into the tub.
So when is the MG U9 ute going on sale in Australia?
According to MG Motor executives, it will be here in late September or early October this year. Pricing and full spec will come closer to the arrival date.
MG Motor Australia’s Chief Commercial Officer Giles Belcher confirmed that the Australian team provided a lot of feedback to MG HQ in China during the vehicle’s development.
He added that the MG U9 will not be exactly the same as the LDV Terron 9 and would have key MG identifiers.
“At the end of the day, platform sharing these days is not uncommon, right? You have Rangers and Amaroks and whatever. So, it's a shared platform with LDV. But this car has been… MG-ified if you like,” he said.
“So, you know, we'll back it with our 10-year warranty. We'll back it with our dealer network. It's not exactly the same. It's tuned slightly differently. It looks slightly different. We have different cosmetic things. So it's not the same car, but it's based on the same platform.”
Belcher said a ute has been on the cards for a while, but added that it has to fit the Australian market’s needs for a vehicle like this.
“Having a ute in Australia kind of rounds out a brand's portfolio. Until you have one you know, it feels like there's something missing. So I think I was interviewed about 18 months ago asking, would we bring one? And I said at that time, ‘yes, we're interested in one, but it has to be the right one’. This is the right one.
“The towing is good. The safety is fine. You know, all those key things you have to tick, we're going to tick. It drives beautifully. This is a car that will, I'm not going to say, set a new benchmark, but it's as good as anything in the market today that you can buy. It's our first go at it. And as with everything we do, we've done it as hard as we can, as good as we can, and our parent company delivered us an outstanding product for Australia.
“So you know, we're super excited about bringing this to market. It opens up new avenues for us and for the Australian consumer. So it gives them another choice, and we think it's a good one.”
