Sino-Brit brand’s latest answers more than the Y - local boss explains why it’s more important to nab petrol car fans.

TWO market giants are in the sights of a new MG electric car - one far more obvious than the other.

Strategy to establish the MG S6 will go beyond proving its credentials to electric sector buyers.

Winning over buyers of medium internal combustion sports utility wagons is as much a priority for MG New Zealand country business manager Dean Sheed (below).

This means the new five-seater here in 77kWh $56,990 rear and $63,990 all-wheel-drive Essence specification, with the latter’s large glass roof the chief visible difference, will front up to two giants.

Aside from the Tesla Model Y that has resumed domination of the electric sector there’s the Toyota hybrid crossover car that topped new car sales last year and now options with a plug.

Sheed proposes the RAV4 being among internal combustion products whose supporters might now be wanting to all the way with electricity.

Others are fans of vehicles he knows well from his previous executive roles with Giltrap Group. Volkswagen Group models the Tiguan, Skoda Kodiaq and perhaps even Audi Q3 could also fit the profile of future MG S6 adopters.

If anything, conquesting those who have preferred highly-regarded quality pure ICE and PHEV products will be a better score than winning over Tesla fans, he explained at yesterday’s MG S6 launch event.

“I'd rather not just look at Tesla. I won't say a bad word about them, they do a brilliant job,” he said when reminded that MG head office has openly said the S6 is designed to match or better than Model Y.

Sheed doesn’t doubt it has the ability to do just that. He agrees the positioning at $56,990 in rear and $63,990 in all-wheel-drive configurations, with the large glass roof the chief visible difference between the two, gives S6 a good opportunity to cause upset in the electric zone.

The MG pair under-prices yet competes well at technical, performance, range, comfort and cabin space level with the best-seller Tesla, plus also the Zeekr 7X and BYD Seal.

Those attributes, the performance and range plus the dynamic attributes might also see it cause issues for another MG product that isn’t badged as one.

From first taste on roads round Auckland yesterday, it seems a more palatable concoct than the like-sized $89,900 IM6 touted as the ultimate definition of MG’s technology and luxury. There’s less glam in the S6, but the driving stint spoke to the new choice having somewhat more dynamic polish.

Sheed says gaining customers who are in transition from internal combustion is preferable to simply trying to snare those who already enjoy EV ownership.

“I'd like to see us grow the business by converting people from petrol.

“If I just look at EVs and ‘go, who do I want to compete with there?’ I'm missing the opportunity which is with those who have predominantly considered petrol and hybrids.

“There's a whole raft of mainstream high quality vehicles against which we are now continuing to compete.”

Just over five percent shareholding of the passenger sector makes MG the fourth largest brand in that playground and “gives a bit of magnitude” that’s being noticed by other more established players, Sheed contends.

With five fully combustion cars, three hybrid electrics, one plug-in hybrid and now five fully electric products, MG is well established across all drivetrain options, and will enhance that further this year, with a fully electric version of the the big MG U9 utility among sign-ups.

“I've got a lot of my old friends now looking at us to say ‘how can we compete with MG’?” I've got a very good range of ICE vehicles and are now transitioning customers into the full battery electric range. So we are focused on conquest from ICE, not just from EV.”

Sheed notes the market is delivering a distinct trend back toward EV after two extremely depressed years.

Thirty eight percent of new passenger registrations being achieved by battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles last month signalled as the highest electrified share recorded for that period by NZ Transport Agency.

Electric product take-up has grown massively since January whereas ICE share is reducing. In June 26.2 percent of registrations went to EVs, 12 percent to PHEVs and 30.6 percent to hybrids lacking ability to mains-replenish. The ICE share was 31 percent, down from 52 percent in February.

Sheed’s view is that things might quieten down a bit from now on, but he also sees no reason to doubt that the trend being seen now will not alter significantly.

Accelerated EV buy-up across the first half of the year has meant a cracking start for the MG4 Urban. Supply in start-off month May and then June exhausting, with 264 on the road as result. The sister MG4 was caught during model changeover but new supply starts soon. The S5 that sits just below the S6, but is smaller and less potent, also ran well, with 225 plated so far.

Ultimately, BYD, Chery’s Jaecoo and Kia have been outperforming MG with individual models and/or by volume, but if any individual model has a chance of raising the game, then it surely has to be S6.

The Model Y’s huge year-to-date count speaks to certain consumer preferences for cabin space, performance and range and technology that the MG largely meets. All it lacks is ability to match Tesla’s Full Self Drive Supervised ingredient.

When it comes to discussing how well the S6 might go, Sheed offers little beyond sharing in-house prediction being that the AWD will sell more strongly.

His offers that his interest is less in creating a specific single sales star than it is to lift his brand as a whole. A team effort ethos, in short.

While the passenger sector of the new vehicle industry is showing better growth than the commercial side - “the two are running at different speeds” - and there has been better sales pace out of the regions than from metro sectors, he has confidence.

“We're doing what we said we were going to do … we’re growing. Year to date, the market's up 13 percent, our business up 35 percent. We are swimming a bit faster than the marketplace.

“We're participating quite well, growing faster than the marketplace and we're able to keep that growth going.”

Were the MG S6 be accepted as China’s closest rival yet to Model Y, it would have a big job coming close to meeting, let along beating, the Tesla’s market performance.

The Y’s 1908 registrations between January 1 and up to end of June, when 908 were plated (so, more than double the count for June 2025) puts it well ahead of anything else.

S6 begins a new phase in settling with with a nickel manganese cobalt battery that the brand believes is best suited for long distance driving, regardless it does temper recharging to a maximum 144kW on DC.

Insofar as the pricing is concerned, he says S5 having moved down slightly in price (regardless of a battery enhancement) allows S6 to sit in its own defined space.

“We've tried to position this like we have the S5 and the MG4 Urban. We’ve tried to find that sweet spot … I think in terms of price positioning, it fits in very nicely.

“The revision to S5 (means) we've got a nice walk between the models and then we've got the IM6 starting a little higher than that as well.”

Though defined as a sister model to S5, the S6 stands apart by a bit larger, having a more rakish styling, stronger range and that AWD opportunity.

The rear-drive offers 180kW/350Nm and a WLTP range of 530km. The all-wheel-drive has 266kW/540Nm, a WLTP range of 485km and by delivering 0-100kmh in 5.1 seconds is 2.2s faster than its sibling.

You can feel the difference, particularly when the AWD is switched in Sport mode, but both are fleet and felt confident on rain-affected tarmac. MG’s AWD isn’t quite as it is labelled, as it only automatically engages the front motor when traction is limited.

The only enduring annoyance of the day was an old chestnut. Having to put up with the MG Pilot driver-assistance suite.

This car has the latest version which offers more opportunity to reduce its zealousness and you’ll make that tailoring a priority, because the monitoring side is still annoyingly OTT. In one car, just blinking seemed enough to trigger the eyes’ ahead insistence.

The specification includes 20-inch alloy wheels, a tyre repair kit, automatic LED headlights, auto high-beam, electric tailgate, heated power-folding exterior mirrors, rain-sensing wipers, Bluetooth key, digital radio, on-board satellite navigation, 11-speaker audio system, 50W wireless phone charging, heated, leather trimmed steering wheel, one touch up and down power windows, heated and ventilated front seats, heated outboard rear seats, six way electric driver seat and four way electric passenger seat, combination leatherette/suede trim, dual-zone climate control, rear air vents, and two front USB-C outlets and two rear USB-C outlets.

The RWD gets an 86-litre frunk, while the AWD can store 67 litres. The boot space offers up 581 litres (so about 40 litres more than the S5) with the second row in use, expanding out to a hefty 1690 litres with the 60:40 split second row folded down.