Presented to the world at the Shanghai Motor Show, China, the MG Cyberster Concept anticipated what could become a roadster for the British brand today.
Very well received by the audience, MG placed the decision on the future of this prototype in the public's hands — whether it would be produced or not —, announcing a crowdfunding campaign, called MG CyberCUBE, in which each supporter of the project could make a “declaration of intentions” and buy a kind of share for 126 euros each.
MG set a target of 5000 registrations — or actions — to kick off the roadster's production plans and announced that if the target was not reached (by July 31), the total amount collected (approximately 630,000 euros) would be refunded.
It turns out that it didn't take many days for the goal to be met, with the brand announcing on the Chinese social network Weibo that the goal of 5000 registrations was reached. “The project was officially established and the mass production plan has already started to be promoted”, it can also be read in the aforementioned publication.
Inspired by the 1962 MGB
Inspired by the MGB (launched in 1962), according to Carl Gotham, director of SAIC Design Advanced London, “the Cyberster is a bold statement that looks to the future of MG (…) Sports cars are the lifeblood of MG's DNA and the Cyberster is an extremely exciting concept.”
But despite the inspiration from the past, the Cyberster was not tied to the idea of being just a retro model and presents itself with innovative and original solutions, such as the “Magic Eye” headlamps that open when turned on, the LED strips that extend from the mudguards to the doors and the rear LED headlamps that form a graphic motif identical to that of the UK flag (where have we seen this already?).
And numbers?
Little is known about the “numbers” that the Cyberster will reach when it hits the market, but MG has already confirmed that this roadster will be 100% electric and that it will offer up to 800 km of autonomy.
It will also have 5G connectivity and will be able to perform the usual acceleration exercise from 0 to 100 km/h in less than 3s.