MG4 XPower Gets £2500 Cheaper, Face-Melting Acceleration Remains

If you’re after the quickest possible acceleration for the smalles possible amount of money, the MG4 XPower has been one of your best options among new cars for a while. The dual-motor electric hatchback makes a combined 429bhp, and will hit 62mph in a quoted 3.8 seconds.

At £36,495, it’s not exactly cheap, but if being a traffic-light hero is among your priorities, it’s some way more affordable than other cars that’ll match its acceleration figure, like the £61,525 Audi RS3 and £86,800 BMW M2 CS.

It’s about to look like even better value for money too, because MG has announced that you’ll soon be able to get £2500 off that list price. That’s through a combination of an existing £1000 discount for taking a test drive, and a new £1500 electric car grant introduced by the company in response to the UK government’s own one announced last week.

That grant’s been introduced before it’s been officially decided if MG’s cars will qualify for the government subsidy, but it looks likely they won’t, reports Autocar. That’s because MG isn’t signed up to the Science Based Targets Initiative, a programme aimed at helping companies reduce their CO2 emissions, and which manufacturers will need to be part of in order to qualify for the government grant.

Eligibility for the grant will also depend on the cleanliness of the power grid in which a car is produced, and it’s thought that this will effectively exclude any Chinese-built car from qualifying. MG’s own grant, then, is to restimulate demand for its cheaper EVs as buyers wait to find out which cars will be eligible for the government’s.

What it means for us, though, is that one of the quickest hatchbacks you can buy – in fact, one that’ll outdrag any petrol hot hatch to 62mph bar that pesky RS3 – will now start at £33,995. Oh, and the grant also applies to the regular single-motor 4 as well as the un-Google-able MGS5, but be honest – it's the quick one you're interested in, right?

We won’t pretend that the XPower’s turn of pace means it’s worth a look compared to most petrol hot hatches, or even other similarly-priced, slower EVs. With the MG’s slightly wooden steering and wallowy suspension, you’re going to have more fun in an Alpine A290 or Abarth 600e, let alone a Focus ST or Golf GTI. But if you want your insides to hurt a bit when you mash the throttle, the XPower now lets you do it for even less money than before.