Chinese-owned MG has revealed a fully-electric sports car. Called the Cyberster, it is a two-seat roadster in the mould of the MG tradition. Already, though, the cynics have been raising their hands and pointing their fingers. I’ve read comments on social media asking how a sports car powered by batteries can do justice to MG’s fabled history. And then there is the design which, to some, is generic and clumsily detailed.
Everybody is entitled to their opinion, of course, and it is perhaps validation of MG’s bold vision for the Cyberster that it has whipped up such a storm. My overriding feeling is that it is simply nice to see the launch of a traditional (in design, if not powertrain) open-top two-seater, and not yet another aggressively-styled, vulgar 2.5-tonne SUV.
Once a thriving, profitable sector of the market, the roadster has, in recent times, come under attack from crossovers and hot hatches, the Mazda MX-5 being arguably the only car of its type to have survived the mass cull of affordable sports cars.
This got me donning my rose-tinted specs and reminiscing about the old days. When I was growing up in the Nineties, there was a much greater diversity of body-styles and categories of car. Buying a car was simple. If you wanted a cheap and economical mode of transport, a tiny city car (usually South Korean) was the way to go. Multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) were ideal for the family man or woman, and for those at boardroom level, a shiny, gadget-laden BMW or Mercedes-Benz saloon signalled your success.
On the subject of affordable sports cars, well, almost every manufacturer had something to offer, from the MG F and Lotus Elise to the Mercedes SLK and Porsche Boxster. Don’t forget the novel Renault Sport Spider, either. The point is, you bought a car because it suited your intended use, and as a result, its shortfalls in other areas were more than compensated for.
Today, manufacturers will try to sell you something purporting to do everything. Sports SUVs, for instance, promise all of the performance and handling dynamism of a saloon, but clothed in a spacious family friendly package that bristles with technology and gives you that all-important elevated seating position.
This pitch is clearly working, for one only needs to count the number of such vehicles that litter the high streets to know how popular they are with buyers. As cash cows, they undoubtedly put their manufacturers in rude health financially - something to be celebrated. However, I yearn for the days when variety was the spice of automotive life. Perhaps in this electric age, we will once again see more creativity and diversification. MG’s example is a fine one to follow…
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