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Trademark filings have revealed MG’s first seven-seater in Australia could offer a plug-in hybrid option when it arrives in 2025.
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The name of MG’s first seven-seat SUV for Australia has been confirmed in trademark filings – after an executive previously let the name slip – along with the likelihood of a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) option.
SAIC Motor, the parent of MG, has registered to protect the ‘MG QS’ name to the Australian trademark office in recent weeks – including ‘MG QS AWD', 'MG QS PHEV' and ‘QS Plug-in Hybrid’.
The 2025 MG QS large seven-seat SUV will arrive by the end of next year as the brand’s largest – and first three-row vehicle – ever sold in Australia.
As shown in Drive's speculative renderings above, the QS is tipped to be a restyled version of the sub-five-metre Roewe RX9 large SUV sold by MG parent SAIC in its domestic market, similar to the relation between the current MG HS and Roewe RX5 mid-size SUVs.
While the RX9 is currently offered overseas with no form of electrification – only a non-hybrid 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine – the trademark filings suggest a PHEV is under development for the Australia-bound MG QS, likely to better meet the incoming New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES).
Using the smaller HS PHEV due in Australia by June 2025 as a guide, the QS PHEV is expected to have a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine matched to an electric motor for a 220kW and 350Nm combined system output, with a 21.4kWh battery pack.
The QS name evenly slots eight letters between HS and ZS in the alphabet.
With larger dimensions than the HS, the QS will join the line-up to compete with established Toyota Kluger, Hyundai Palisade and Mazda CX-80 seven-seaters – all of which offer, or will soon offer, either a conventional hybrid or plug-in hybrid powertrain.
In the left-hand drive Middle Eastern market, the Roewe is already sold as the MG RX9 without any exterior styling differences – but the right-hand drive QS for Australia is expected to receive more changes over its Roewe twin.
These changes will likely mirror the MG HS, which received a different front fascia, conventional door handles, and a unique dashboard compared to the Roewe RX5 it is based on.
"ZS ICE [new non-hybrid] will come next year, and the HS hybrid and the plug-in hybrid will come next year. And then QS will [also] come next year,” said MG Motor Australia CEO Peter Ciao last month.
"Yeah, we have another SUV [on top of ZS and HS] … We still are deciding the name for that,” added MG Motor Australia head of product Akshat Ahuja.
The 2025 MG QS seven-seat SUV is due in Australia sometime next year, with an official unveil expected in the coming months.
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Jordan is a motoring journalist based in Melbourne with a lifelong passion for cars. He has been surrounded by classic Fords and Holdens, brand-new cars, and everything in between from birth, with his parents’ owning an automotive workshop in regional Victoria. Jordan started writing about cars in 2021, and joined the Drive team in 2024.
