IM are a separate brand everywhere else and are separate for a reason. I wouldn’t expect either of these to appear or feel cheap although there will still be the valid Chinese questions.
They’re “MG” in Australia, too. In fact, they’re MG everywhere in the world – except China. That’s because SAIC is the distributor, and they chose to distribute it through MG.
Now.. My guess is, they want to turn IM basically into the Lexus of Toyota, or Infinity of Honda.
In regards to the car, i’m not too hot on the SUV, but the saloon looks great, even inside. Just a bit perplexed that they offer level 4 autonomous parking and all the other auto-gizmos, but still don’t have matrix LED lights.
Pricewise, they’re great – and i very much hope they turn up next quarter in the lists at reasonable prices. Would need to drive one first obviously, but just from what i can see in the configurator, i wouldn’t mind one, depending on the prices.
The main concern would be, as usual, the infotainment. For the majority of chinese branded cars i’ve looked at, they’re even less intuitive/convenient than european offerings. But time will tell, i’ve not sat in an IM so i can’t judge it. I definitely will keep my fingers crossed though.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.