It’s so funny the kinda stuff that stands out to the car community. At the LA Auto Show last year, it was not a supercar but the tiny, undriveable Fiat Topolino. The Goodwood Festival of Speed is full of hypercars and iconic race cars… But all eyes are on the MG GO!
And it’s not just me. CarBuzz says the concept “looks like a better Mini than even Mini builds.” The internet agrees.
The MG GO! is a concept car that doesn’t seem all that impossible to bring to life, because it isn’t. It previews the MG2, a production B-segment electric hatchback due in 2027 that will square up against the Renault 5 and the Mini Cooper Electric.
It’s a hatchback without extra bells and whistles. Friendly, round appearance, curious eyes, a few angular features for a modern edge. Like we’ve been saying, America yearns for the small, cute cars!
However, as you may have guessed, the United States is missing out. Again.
Actually British-designed, for once
Here’s a detail that makes the GO! more interesting than your average show car: it was designed entirely at MG’s Advanced Design studio in London, under design director Carl Gotham. This is MG’s fourth consecutive year bringing a concept to Goodwood.
The retro references are a greatest-hits album. The silhouette and forward-sloping tailgate nod to the Pininfarina-designed MGB GT. The flared arches channel the Metro 6R4 Group B rally monster. The spoiler echoes the ZR hot hatch.
Gotham says the team wanted something “compact and contemporary, but also warm, expressive and immediately likeable.” Mission accomplished, honestly.
One catch: MG hasn’t shared a single technical spec. No battery, no motor, no range. So temper the excitement until the production MG2 shows its numbers. MG also brought a second concept, the Cyber, a big performance SUV without even an interior yet. Cool, but not the one people were crowding around.
The MG GO! is a no-go in the U.S.
MG is fully owned by SAIC, a Chinese state automaker. While the brand has seen real success in Europe, that ownership makes anything it builds a hard no in the United States.
There are two locked doors here. First, Chinese-built EVs face tariffs north of 100%. Second, and more definitive, is the Connected Vehicle Rule, finalized in January 2025, which blocks vehicles with Chinese or Russian-linked connected software starting with the 2027 model year, hardware in 2030.
The rule works case by case, and it has teeth. On June 25, the Commerce Department denied Polestar authorization to sell here from model year 2027, even though the Polestar 3 is built in South Carolina. Ownership, not factory location, is what counts. Volvo, same Chinese parent, got approved. Polestar didn’t, which is why it’s currently fire-selling its remaining US inventory with discounts up to $25,000.
An SAIC-owned MG applying for that same authorization? I wouldn’t hold my breath.
About that 1980 exit
MG was last seen in the United States back in 1980, with the MGB. And let me correct the record before someone’s uncle does it in the comments: the MGB was a massive hit. Over half a million were built between 1962 and 1980, the best-selling sports car of its era, and the majority came right here to America.
What was considered just… off, stylistically, were the final federalized years, when US regulations saddled the poor thing with rubber bumpers and a raised ride height. The Abingdon factory closed in October 1980, and MG waved America goodbye.
The brand kept going elsewhere, and some of it was actually quite cool. SAIC took over in 2007, pivoted hard to EVs, and turned MG into a genuine volume player in Europe. People generally like the Cyberster, an electric roadster that honors the brand’s roots better than anyone expected from the new ownership.
Now it’s a 102-year-old badge designing its cutest car in decades… in London… for everywhere but here.
What we get instead
Alas, we won’t be seeing the GO! when the production MG2 arrives in 2027. Sad, because everything about it screams affordable, and affordable is the one thing our market is starving for.
The consolation prizes aren’t nothing, though. The Fiat Topolino just opened US orders at $14,985, the Mini still exists, and cheap vehicles are slowly creeping back in general.
So here’s my question: the small, cute, affordable EV segment is thriving basically everywhere else, and the rules keeping those cars out aren’t changing anytime soon. How long can America yearn before somebody builds us one here?
