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Releasing beautifully shot, artfully composed images is the usual way to introduce a new flagship model to the public. But is there another way to tell the world just what your latest model can do, as well as cementing it in the minds of potential buyers? MG certainly thinks there is, and instead of taking the new Cyberster racing or using it to break some obscure world record, the company is sending its new two-seat electric sports car on an epic trans-continental expedition from London to Shanghai.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With professional adventurers \u2013 and identical twins \u2013 Ross and Hugo Turner at the helm, the Cyberster will cover more than 10,000 miles on a seven-month-long journey to reach China by 5 May 2024. If all goes to plan, that will be just in time for next year\u2019s Shanghai Motor Show, which was the venue of the original Cyberster Concept\u2019s debut back in 2021.<\/p>\n
The Turner Twins will need to cross the Middle East, Southeast Asia, India and China on their 21st century reimagining of the Silk Road, but their first port of call in the Cyberster was the MG Owners\u2019 Club headquarters in Cambridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Said to be the world\u2019s largest single-marque car club, the MG Owners\u2019 Club has something in the region of 20,000 members worldwide, the majority of whom are spread across the UK. One of the first people to cast their fastidious eyes over the Cyberster was Roche Bentley, the man who founded the club 50 years ago in October 1973.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I saw the car pull up here, I thought it was totally beautiful,\u201d he said. \u201cIn fact, my first reaction was that Ferrari will be unhappy. But will I be able to get out of it? Probably not.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember when the MGF was launched in Geneva,\u201d Bentley continued, \u201ca journalist said to me, \u2018What don\u2019t you like about the car?\u2019 and I said there\u2019s nothing. I told him, \u2018I\u2019m in love and when you\u2019re in love, you love with all faults found, and I can\u2019t find any faults with this MGF\u2019; and I\u2019d say the same thing about that [the Cyberster].\u201d<\/p>\n
David Parker, who\u2019s owned a total of 12 MGs to date, also gave his two cents on the Cyberster: \u201cI think it looks very good in the flesh. The only thing I\u2019m not quite sure about is the rear tail-lights with the arrows, but everything else looks in proportion, very smart and bang up-to-date, and I also like the interior.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Keith Herkes, owner of one of the three MG 18\/80 Mk2 saloons left in the world, described the design of the Cyberster as \u201cabsolutely phenomenal\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe front-end view of it is so iconic as an MG sports car, despite the fact it\u2019s got all the stampings of a modern car and it\u2019s a modern design.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cyberster\u2019s reception was overwhelmingly positive, based on what club director Richard Monk overheard. When asked if the Cyberster was a worthy addition to MG\u2019s heritage, he replied immediately: \u201cAbsolutely. You look at it and it does exude MG.\u201d<\/p>\n
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British\u00a0adventurers Hugo and Ross Turner \u2013 the Turner Twins \u2013 have already rowed across the Atlantic Ocean and sailed to its remotest parts. So you might think an all-electric two-seat sports car isn\u2019t the most obvious choice for a mammoth expedition like the one they\u2019re undertaking.<\/p>\n
To Hugo, though, it makes complete sense: \u201cOne thing we put at the centre of all our projects is having that pioneering sense of adventure, and that pioneering spirit is in the Cyberster.\u201d<\/p>\n
How and where they\u2019ll charge the car is a particular concern, especially when they leave Europe and enter the Middle East and Southeast Asia. But the twins are confident they\u2019ll use that time wisely, as Ross explains: \u201cwe\u2019re going to be in the car every day, so we\u2019re going to see if we can go for runs, and charging gives us that hour or two hours to have a look around.\u201d<\/p>\n
The twins will also have the support of the MG dealers in the countries they\u2019re planning to visit, who have offered to help if needed. And while the Cyberster they\u2019re currently driving is a prototype, come the new year, they\u2019ll have a production version to take them the rest of the way to Shanghai.<\/p>\n