The MG Cyberster will likely be brought in by SAIC Motor Malaysia before 2025.
Last week, SAIC Motor Malaysia previewed the MG5 sedan and MG HS SUV at an event in PJ. After those two vehicles were shown, the Cyberster was driven into the building as a “surprise” preview, having not mentioned the vehicle in any of the press materials distributed prior to the event. While no launch details were confirmed, we can guess that it will be the most expensive car of all time to be launched by a Chinese automotive conglomerate in Malaysia.
For those not keeping track of the electric vehicle market, the MG Cyberster is pretty significant. It was first previewed in concept form back in 2021 before officially revealed in production form at the 2023 Chengdu Motor Show. It’s significant in being one of the very few electric roadsters in the modern age. Yes, Tesla had a Roadster early on, but now that electric vehicles have evolved to threaten ICE vehicles, only MG seems to have cracked the code on how to bring something to production at a relatively reasonable price point. The Tesla Roadster generation 2 remains in production hell 7 years after first being mentioned. The Cyberster even got a fixed roof coupé variant called the Cyber GTS before Tesla’s Roadster went into production.
The MG Cyberster was designed in MG London by Carl Gotham and his design team. The fabric hood can be deployed in 15 seconds at up to 48km/h. Three powertrain options are offered – the single motor rear-wheel drive model comes with either a 310hp or 335hp output, both with 475Nm of torque enabling a century sprint time of 4.9 seconds. This version has a smaller 64kWh battery pack. The all-wheel drive model comes in just one spec rated at 536hp and 725Nm of torque with a 77kWh battery getting it from 0-100km/h in 3.2 seconds. These vehicles have impressive ranges based on the CLTC method (501km – 580km depending on spec) but none can exceed 200km/h in top speed. Still, being the spiritual electric successor to the MG F, it’s not really about top speed but about handling and small bursts of acceleration, not to mention the thrill of top down motoring.
The indicated pricing out of the UK lies somewhere between £54,995 and £59,995. Meanwhile in Thailand, the MG Cyberster is offered at 2,499,000 baht. Brought in tax free with some shipping costs and local dealer margins thrown in, we could see Malaysia’s first electric roadster sold at anywhere from RM320,000 to RM350,000. While this would make it the most expensive vehicle to be introduced by a Chinese manufacturer (MG has been owned by SAIC since before the 2010s), we think that price tag is perfectly reasonable considering just how unique and impressive the vehicle is. I mean, this thing has scissor doors, an electrically controlled drop top, Bose sound, a 3.2 second century sprint time and looks to kill – even if you find certain aspects to not be to your taste, it’s impossible to deny there’s nothing quite like the Cyberster near that price point.
