10:30 am, September 15, 2023
Luscombe’s Leeds has become the first car dealership in the world to show off the upcoming MG Cyberster as the sports car kicks off an eight-month world tour.
The much-talked about electric sports car went on display at the Yorkshire showroom on Wednesday evening with punters flocking to the site to catch a glimpse.
Bosses say the response to the car was ‘overwhelmingly positive’ with two customers traveling more than 100 miles to get a look of the vehicle in the flesh.
Despite final pricing not yet being confirmed, the dealership has already taken deposits from 15 Cyberster customers with more expected over the coming months.
Sam Luscombe, sales director at Luscombe’s Leeds, told Car Dealer: ‘The car is heading on an eight month global tour through the UK, Europe, Middle East and Asia so to be the very first dealership to get the chance to showcase it was a treat for our customers and a nice bit of recognition for our staff for all their hard work.
‘The response was overwhelmingly positive and we had many people saying it looked even better in the flesh than it does in photos.
‘The finish elevates MG to a completely new level and that’s before anyone’s had the chance to experience the heavily rumoured 0-60 performance, which is 2.8 seconds!
‘While pricing is also still only rumoured, the guide price indicates given by Guy Piganoukis have seen plenty of people put their name down.
‘We have 15 people who have left a deposit aiming to get one of the first ones into the country and two customers travelled to the event from over 100 miles away having already left a deposit so they could see it in the flesh.
‘As more details emerge and plans finalised, we expect to see a few more.’
The Cyberster is the first MG-badged sports car in more than a decade, following a rich heritage that included the MG Midget, MGB and MG TF.
Since coming into Chinese ownership, the brand has moved away from those roots and switched attention to higher volume vehicles.
Despite this, Luscombe believes there is still a place for MG tapping into its sports car history.
He added: ‘I don’t think anyone’s under any illusions about the size of this market, meaning in the grand scheme of MGs volume, this isn’t going to move the needle, but the impact it could have on the brand is huge.
‘With lots of new Chinese entrants, MG having the ability to utilise their sports car heritage with an impressive halo model will have a big impact on people’s perception of what a modern MG is.
‘That’s important for MG as they maintain that value proposition but also introduce models like the Marvel R next year which goes after a more premium segment of the EV market.’
‘No further details’ on agency
Earlier in the year, MG’s UK commercial director Guy Pigounakis told Car Dealer Live that the Cyberster could be sold to customers in a ‘slightly different’ way to existing cars from the brand.
He admitted that the brand has been looking at selling the high-performance sports car in an agency-style manner – but that nothing had been set in stone.
The admission was significant given Pigounakis’s vocal criticism of agency sales, which he described as a ‘margin grab’.
Luscombe says that dealers have not been given any further details on those plans but have been told that ‘addition investment will be required’.
He told Car Dealer: ‘We have no further details as yet.
‘They [MG] have told us there will be an additional investment required and a minimum showroom standard but there has been no mention of the commercial model yet.’
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