This is the MG X Power SV-S WRC, yes a rather long name, but it does have its origins. Since MG's collapse, William Riley an ex racing driver had bought the badge rights of the MG X Power from the administrators of MG, PricewaterhouseCoopers; he took the original MG X Power SVS' design and went off creating a convertible, adding the moniker S WRC (William Riley Convertible), with the original styling largely remain. However the original 4.6ltr V8 Ford engine was replaced by a 5.0 ltr V8 Supercharge Roush engine, producing 420hp and capable of a 3.8 second century sprint, thanks to the carbon kevlar body, adding only 12kg to the original coupe.
Now I believe many would start wondering since when did boring MG had such a masterpiece? Remember this car on the right? At the brink of MG Rover's shutdown, MG showed the X-Power SV in 2004. A car with a complicated production, as well as a complicated background.First, for established marques, whenever times go wrong and your brand image was completely tarnished, you could either spend 5 to 10 years and spending massively on A&P whilst devoting plenty of funding and attention into your products, or you could do some wonder works and create a supercar and let viral attention bring your brand back on track. This is what MG originally decides to do with the X Power SV, before the collapse and final production only amounted to a total of 42 cars.
The creation of the X Power SV was rather unique, or troubled may i say, as the car was initially a Qvale Mangusta, of which MG Rover bought over, they took the Italian bred sports coupe and created the MG X80, which basically looks too much like the MG TF and they felt something needs to be done to its stale styling.
Then Peter Stevens came into the picture, a car designer that had worked on projects such as the Lotus Elan, Mclaren F1, and most notably the Prodrive P2. He came in and redesigned the MG X80 completely with extremely aggressive styling, but with some embarrassing bits such as the front lamps from the Fiat Punto MK2 and rear lamps from the Fiat Coupe. Which all adds up being arguably the most angry looking car ever to come from UK, or just anywhere else in the world. Nonetheless, an extremely desirable and highly exclusive piece of machinery unlike Italian thoroughbreds that carries the sense of charisma, sould and artistry carried by remnants of the Italian Cultural Revolution, but the mechanical, functional unapologetic character from the British Industrial Revolution.
Image Source: Auto Express
