MG is set to announce an entry into the new all-electric touring car series PURE ETCR with its MG6 model, after series Director Xavier Gavory mentioned the marque amongst car brands which have developed ETCR cars.
It was revealed earlier this year that Lisheng Shanghai Racing, which developed the MG6 Xpower TCR last year, was working on a new electric touring car for an unnamed brand.
The car was entered into selected events last year, including the final rounds of the TCR China series (pictured) and the FIA Motorsport Games.
Discussing the ETCR brands for the new series in the first PURE Talk podcast with commentator Martin Haven, Gavory mentioned MG by name alongside CUPRA, Hyundai and Alfa Romeo, which had already been publicly revealed.
“Officially registered we have CUPRA, which became the very first manufacturers with Mattias Ekström and Jordi Gené at the wheel of their impressive CUPRA e-Racer,” said Gavory. “They made a lot of communication around this.
“The car is beautiful, it’s very aggressive, very nice. Then we have as well Alfa Romeo and MG that both built ETCR-spec cars.
“Alfa Romeo already announced their participation in PURE ETCR and MG announced the production of the ETCR vehicle, so we expect their registration to be done very soon.
“Then we obviously have Hyundai with their Veloster, an eligible car as well; it’s extremely nice, it’s extremely aggressive as well in terms of looks.
“They [Hyundai] did a lot of tests already so we saw the cars, and you have a chance to see it on the internet, and they will hopefully officially register very soon.”
Gavory is also confident of further brands entering the new series in the future, as the car market shifts increasingly towards electric vehicles.
“As mentioned before, most of the manufacturers have developed their electric vehicles. The range of products has increased drastically.
“Initially electric vehicles were very small, logistics vehicles somehow, to take the kids to school and go shopping in the city.
“Then the manufacturers decided to convert their very high-profile cars, very expensive cars, luxury cars, into electric vehicles, and now you have all the middle range that get electric.
“So, with this in mind we trust that many, many manufacturers will in the future promote their middle-range vehicles, their touring car vehicles basically, and will potentially use PURE ETCR as a platform.
“Promotion is key and promotion of electric vehicles is key, and Discovery [promoter Eurosport’s owner] has clearly understood that this is a very clear and powerful asset for the future.
“So Discovery today, with the creation of PURE ETCR, can have a house of electric mobility, with Formula E on the one side promoting single seaters – very technologically-oriented vehicles – and PURE ETCR, touring car vehicles based on the touring car roots and the touring car DNA with bumper-to-bumper and door-to-door [action]. Real cars, real racing.”