MG GTS revealed

MG MOTORS has officially unveiled the production version of its first SUV which will do battle with the likes of Ford’s Kuga, Volkswagen’s Tiguan and Toyota’s RAV 4 when it lands in Australia.

Revealed on the British brand’s Chinese website the MG GTS appears to have retained much of the styling of the heavily sculpted CS concept which debuted at the Shanghai motor show last year.

Bearing the design language of the current line-up, the GTS features sleek headlights integrated into a small upper grille adorned by the octagonal MG badge that meets a tapered wake channel running down the bonnet’s centre.

Below this is a larger lower grille with a darkened finish. An angular rear end, blacked-out B- and C-pillars and roof, rear spoiler and large diameter two-tone alloy wheels complete the SUV’s sporty look.

The GTS is 4500mm long, 1855mm wide and 1675mm high making it 24mm shorter, 17mm wider and 27mm shorter than Ford’s Kuga. Wheelbase is 40mm shorter than the Ford at 2650mm between the axles.

In its announcement MG revealed that the GTS will be built on a new scalable platform developed with its Chinese parent company Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC).

Powering the five-seater SUV will be a 164kW/350Nm 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine sending power to all four wheels through a six-speed dual-clutch transmission.

MG calls the GTS a “high-performance mid-level SUV” with a claimed 0-100km/h time of 8.0 seconds, which is 0.1 seconds behind Volkswagen’s 132 TSI Tiguan.

The GTS is expected to go on sale first in China in the second quarter of 2015.

MG’s local importer and distributor Australia Longwell Motor is yet to confirm the vehicle’s arrival date and price.