MG has turned up to the 2026 Melbourne Motor Show as a brand fully formed, with an ever growing portfolio. There are utes, hatchbacks, hybrid SUVs, a bigger electric family wagon in waiting, and the high-tech IM LS9 looming over the stand like a warning to any legacy brand still convincing itself the Chinese charge might blow over. It will not.
For context, there was a time when Honda would have owned this kind of mainstream middle ground. Broad range. Strong sales. A place in the top ten. Instead, MG has pinched its place, and it, and the other newcomers, are causing consternation here and overseas.
MG’s display at Melbourne is broad because the brand is broad. The MGU9 EV pushes into the ute space, which in Australia is seen as a must-have. The MGU9 Black Edition is there for those who like their tray-backed transport with a little more theatre. MG4 EV Urban keeps the entry point low enough for buyers who want to flirt with electric life without having to auction a kidney. Then there is the updated MY26 MG4 EV, the one current owners will look at with narrowed eyes because it gets more range, better cabin tech, and a cleaner interior after the first car’s rough edges got a thorough seeing-to.
The MGS6 EV matters too. Medium SUVs are where Australian buyers go when they want one car to do everything short of mixing a cocktail. MG says the new electric family bus will do up to 530km WLTP and charge from 10 to 80% in around 38 minutes. Fine. Competitive enough. The kind of figure that will not cause apoplexy in the showroom, which is half the battle these days.
Then comes IM. The LS9 is not there to shift shedloads tomorrow, but to tell the market MG’s parent empire is not content selling cheerful bargain boxes forever. Four-wheel steering, lidar, AI computing, 800-volt architecture, up to 390kW, and a claimed 1,500km CLTC combined range make it less a car and more a large illuminated middle finger aimed at old assumptions about what Chinese brands can build. Whether buyers are ready for all that is another matter. The point is MG and IM are ready to ask the question.
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ABOVE: MG4 stand melbourne motorshow and other MG models
The HS Hybrid+ rounds things out with a sensible shoes option. Not everyone wants to go the whole hog with full electric, and hybrids remain the bridge for buyers who still fear public chargers as if all were haunted by ghosts. A family SUV with 165kW, better efficiency, and no dramatic lifestyle adjustment required will do perfectly well, thank you.
This is where the Honda comparison gets stark, a difficult pill for legacy OEMs one and all. Once upon a time Honda was a mainstream force in Australia. Now the local range is so thin you could slide it under a hotel door. Sales have tanked, the brand has slipped out of the top ten, and what remains has the air of a polished boutique operation for loyalists who remember the good old days. Honda was known for engines even if it was always a premium offering. Meanwhile MG keeps adding metal, adding segments, adding ambition, and adding buyers.
That is the story sitting under the spotlights in Melbourne. MG is behaving like a brand that wants every slice of the market it can reach, from cheap EVs to hybrid family haulers to premium digital spaceships under the IM banner. Honda, by contrast, feels like a once-grand department store reduced to one tidy counter and a very expensive candle.
If Melbourne Motor Show is meant to tell us where brands think the future lies, MG’s stand says growth, sprawl, and confidence. Honda’s absence from this sort of conversation says something too, and none of it is flattering.
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Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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