Daniel Nava, vice president of MG Motor in Mexico, explains that having a plug-in hybrid within his portfolio is a “logical leap” in the change of internal combustion vehicles that use gasoline.
“We started with a van; people really liked it, we launched the new truck and now we launch plug-in hybrid, because it is like the intermediate point for what is to come in terms of electrification for the brand. Why we chose this one? It seems to me that it is the logical step of the brand’s technology and that we can begin to get our customers used to it, ”he argues in an interview with Expansion.
The vehicle combines a combustion engine with a plug-in electric one. It reaches 47.5 kilometers per liter in combined use and a range of up to 52 kilometers in fully electric mode.
Additionally, the model features a 1.5-liter turbocharged internal combustion engine and a 16.6 kWh lithium-ion battery-powered electric motor, which together produce 280 horsepower and 353 pound-feet of torque. . This vehicle will have a price of 825,000 pesos.
The figures show that the SUV correspond to most important segment From the market. With 36,131 vehicles sold in March, it was the best-selling category and had a year-on-year monthly increase of 20.3%according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.
According to data from the Mexican Association of the Automotive Industry, 398 plug-in hybrids were sold in the country over the past year, which represented 0.42% of the total sales.
At the same time, MG Motor launched the new generation HS in an internal combustion version, equipped with a 1.5-liter gasoline engine producing 160 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque. The entry version, Excite, will be priced at 519,650 pesos, while the Trophy version will be around 614,650 pesos.