RE: MG previews Cyberster interior ahead of debut
RE: MG previews Cyberster interior ahead of debut
Monday 10th July 2023

MG previews Cyberster interior ahead of debut

MG's first sports car since the TF is nearly here in production format - check out the new cabin ahead of FoS


It’s been nearly twenty years since MG produced a sports car (in the UK, at least), but the Chinese brand has taken to the drawn-out 21st-century unveiling process like an aromatic duck to water. We’ve had the wild concept, the less wild concept, a pre-production car - and, now, just ahead of the production model’s global debut at Goodwood later this week, a more detailed preview of what the actual interior will look like. 

And the news is pretty good. To be fair, we'd already spied the final cabin from a distance when MG revealed the Cyberster in Shanghai - but this is the first time, courtesy of the firm’s Chinese social media channel, it has indulged us with close-up shots. They reveal that (to everyone’s relief, surely) the silly yoke has gone, replaced with a conventional steering wheel. Ahead of that, you get the obligatory vast, curved screen, which advances into the centre console. 

There is an additional display in the centre stack, flanked by gear selector switches and some fairly chunky controls for the cloth roof and those striking scissor doors. Fans of beverages will note a brace of cupholders; fans of driving briskly will no doubt have spotted the red button marked ‘Super’. Obviously, at this stage, no one knows quite what that signifies (MG is still keeping the final technical details fairly close to its chest) but we can be reasonably certain that it means something transformationally sporty in the setup. 

It would also be appropriately titled if the long-rumoured suggestion of up to 545hp in the dual-motor version comes true. Regardless, the Cyberster’s cabin, much like the rest of the car, makes a decent first impression. There’s a hint of F-Type about its layout courtesy of the prominent grab handle, but clearly it has cut its own idiosyncratic path to implied sportiness (good-looking seats, too) which is precisely what you want. Now we just need to see the finished car in the flesh. Thankfully, there's not long to wait now. 


Author
Discussion

ChrisCh86

Original Poster:

1,132 posts

74 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
[in before the endless debate about Chinese state ownership]

That looks fantastic. A nice clean design, with a good mix of technology and proper buttons.

Hopefully it drives as well as it looks.

simonrockman

7,127 posts

285 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
I'm in. I registered interest with my dealer before the initial announcement. They are not taking deposits but have confirmed that I'm first in the queue.

V12GT

668 posts

120 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
(Also taking Chinese comments as read)

Looks good, but can’t work out who it is aimed at - presumably scissor doors and 545hp means £100k plus and then you are competing against some major names.

Whereas a “cheap” sports car at say £35k and you’d have a much larger market worldwide.

Zetec-S

6,915 posts

123 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
I really wanted to hate it, but if it looks anything like that it's a fantastic looking thing.

But...

V12GT said:
Looks good, but can’t work out who it is aimed at - presumably scissor doors and 545hp means £100k plus and then you are competing against some major names.

Whereas a “cheap” sports car at say £35k and you’d have a much larger market worldwide.
^^^ This. Surely it should be aimed at the "MX5 market", who in their right mind is going to pay that sort of money for a non-brand product pretending to be a failed naff brand product.

Black S2K

1,919 posts

279 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
Well, putting the totalitarianism and batteries aside as irrelevances, that really is rather a lovely thing.

What a way they've come since Etsong made Montego-fronted Maestros.

dunnoreally

1,356 posts

138 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
V12GT said:
(Also taking Chinese comments as read)

Looks good, but can’t work out who it is aimed at - presumably scissor doors and 545hp means £100k plus and then you are competing against some major names.

Whereas a “cheap” sports car at say £35k and you’d have a much larger market worldwide.
It's MG, so it's not going to be £100k. Ethnic cleansing and politically motivated torture and mass murder by the manufacturers aside, I quite like the idea of it. However SAIC would need to be drinking something pretty strong out of the skulls of the human rights lawyers whose extrajudicial killing they ordered if they think anyone's buying one over a 911 for the same money.

I'm not expecting more than £85k, and wouldn't be surprised if it was a lot less.

David87

7,031 posts

242 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
V12GT said:
(Also taking Chinese comments as read)

Looks good, but can’t work out who it is aimed at - presumably scissor doors and 545hp means £100k plus and then you are competing against some major names.

Whereas a “cheap” sports car at say £35k and you’d have a much larger market worldwide.
I think it's supposed to start from about £50k.

Andy83n

612 posts

92 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
dunnoreally said:
It's MG, so it's not going to be £100k. Ethnic cleansing and politically motivated torture and mass murder by the manufacturers aside, I quite like the idea of it. However SAIC would need to be drinking something pretty strong out of the skulls of the human rights lawyers whose extrajudicial killing they ordered if they think anyone's buying one over a 911 for the same money.

I'm not expecting more than £85k, and wouldn't be surprised if it was a lot less.
I suppose you've never bought a British, Italian, French, German or American car then?

KPB1973

938 posts

129 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
If it gets about 350bhp, RWD and 250 mile range for £40k, then I think it could do well.

hoonatic

81 posts

222 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
To me, the interior looks to be made from cheap materials which suggests a low selling price for a lower powered version, with a higher powered model being less competitively priced, but there for those prepared to pay for it and to act as a halo model for the reviewers to rave about.

J4CKO

46,924 posts

230 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
Maybe if we keep the car stuff for in here, and the regime, human rights, animal cruelty, ecological impacts, spying, Taiwan etc for NP and E.

Car looks ace, real crowd pleaser of a design there and I cant think of another electric sportscar that isn't the Tesla Roadster from 15 years ago or so ? So they may have stolen a march on the competition who are very busy mainly on massive SUV type stuff.

Got to come up with a better name though, sounds like a knock off Transformer range, with a hint of Tesla, Cyber is generally quite a negative sort of prefix in most contexts.

Zetec-S

6,915 posts

123 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
KPB1973 said:
If it gets about 350bhp, RWD and 250 mile range for £40k, then I think it could do well.
So it won't won't do well then winkhehe

asci.white

558 posts

103 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
ChrisCh86][in before the endless debate about Chinese state ownership said:
That looks fantastic. A nice clean design, with a good mix of technology and proper buttons.

Hopefully it drives as well as it looks.
This..

No doubt i'll take a kicking for this. You'd think all Chinese companies are corrupt going by what you hear on PH; They're not. I work for an organisation that has a presence in shanghai so I can state from experience it isn't the case.

The car looks really good and kinda has a real clean vibe to the design.

KPB1973

938 posts

129 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
Zetec-S said:
So it won't won't do well then winkhehe
I'm simultaneously feigning interest in a MS Teams meeting, and multitasking miserably!

M1C

2,241 posts

141 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
I think with the MG4 X Power being £36500, (which i think is strong value) this is surely going to be...what... £55k at least. Gotta be. New model, scissor doors....it aint gonna be any cheaper than £55k surely.

And i did call you Shirley.

Wab1974uk

1,410 posts

57 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
ChrisCh86][in before the endless debate about Chinese state ownership said:
That looks fantastic. A nice clean design, with a good mix of technology and proper buttons.

Hopefully it drives as well as it looks.
As with a lot of EV's, the only carrot into buying one is the silly power on offer. When in reality, unless it's aimed at competing against Porsche etc, then no one wants 545bhp.

I bet most Mercedes CLK type cars were bought with power between 200-300bhp, and not the fire breathing AMG version.

Motormatt

508 posts

248 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
I think it looks great inside and out.

Also pleased to see MG having a serious go at an EV sports car when even Lotus are entering the market with yet another boring bloated SUV.

Darnoc95

516 posts

60 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
Not sure about the seats especially in this colour, looks like someone with their skin removed already sitting their. Im normally a fan of red interiors in sports cars but this is more Burgundy plus who wants burgundy interior with a red car.vomit Only across the pond maybe!

Silvanus

6,914 posts

53 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
Wab1974uk said:
ChrisCh86][in before the endless debate about Chinese state ownership said:
That looks fantastic. A nice clean design, with a good mix of technology and proper buttons.

Hopefully it drives as well as it looks.
As with a lot of EV's, the only carrot into buying one is the silly power on offer. When in reality, unless it's aimed at competing against Porsche etc, then no one wants 545bhp.

I bet most Mercedes CLK type cars were bought with power between 200-300bhp, and not the fire breathing AMG version.
Range starts with a 309bhp version, sounds about right.

Water Fairy

6,619 posts

185 months

Tuesday 11th July 2023
quotequote all
The link to Morris Garages with this is more tenuous than chicken tikka masala is to authentic Indian cuisine

That said, I like the look of it and hope they price it cleverly. Could be a winner.