MG last month revealed a masterstroke that proves how car companies can win big by being small.
The 1.8-litre turbocharged 160hp MG6 has remarkable insurance groups: it starts at 13 for the base car, while the range-topper stretches to, well, just 14.
That’s unheralded in this sector – the 150hp Ford Focus 1.6 Ecoboost Titanium is rated at 19, a Skoda Octavia 1.8 TSI Elegance is 22… and a 1.4 TSI 160 VW Golf GT is a staggering 30!
Why? Many things, including top speeds of 130mph, 137mph and 137mph respectively. Which got MG Motor thinking…
See, the chaps there know the chaps at insurance group assessor Thatcham very well. They’re on the phone often, probably worked with some of them in a past age, may even go down the pub with ‘em on occasion.
It is this close relationship that revealed an amazing fact: limit the top speed of your car, and you can save “several” groups on predicted insurance rating. Who’d have thought!
Initially, potential customers didn’t like the idea of an electronic limiter. But when told they could save on insurance, nearly everyone voted instead to go for the speed cap.
It means the MG6 will launch next week (Thursday 14 April) with class-leading insurance ratings, that are more akin to a supermini than a turbocharged large family hatch with 17-inch alloys and boot spoilers. In these days of insurance premiums shooting up 20%-plus in a year, that’s a massive advantage.
Wouldn’t have happened in a larger firm, they argue: that’s why it hasn’t happened before. Proof, they add, of how size isn’t everything…
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