MG's electric ute just cleared its last hurdle to Australia

MG's first electric ute has cleared the paperwork. The U9 EV has been granted Australian Design Rules approval and now appears on the federal ROVER database, the last regulatory box a vehicle ticks before it can be sold here. MG still has not named a price or a launch date, but a ute does not reach this stage unless the brand intends to sell it.

What ADR approval actually means

ROVER approval is not a launch. It is the sign that the homologation work is done and the U9 EV is legal to register in Australia once MG decides to put it on sale. The diesel U9 got there first. It is already open for orders, with first customer deliveries due in the coming months. The electric version follows behind it, which is the normal order: sell the familiar diesel ute to the established buyer, then bring the EV in once the badge is on the road.

The numbers MG has let out

MG is yet to confirm full specifications, so treat these as reported figures rather than a final spec sheet. The U9 EV is expected to use a 102kWh lithium iron phosphate battery for around 430km of WLTP range, driven by a dual-motor all-wheel-drive system with a reported total output of 325kW. The towing claim is the one that matters to ute buyers, and MG has put it at 3,500kg braked, the same headline figure as a diesel dual-cab. Payload is quoted at 685kg. If those numbers hold, the U9 EV would be one of the few electric utes that does not ask a tradie to give up the towing capacity they actually use.

A thin segment, for now

The electric ute class in Australia barely exists. The U9 EV would land against the KGM SsangYong Musso EV and the Toyota HiLux BEV, which is still coming, and not much else. That is the opportunity and the risk in one. Get the price right and MG owns a segment before its rivals arrive. Get it wrong and the U9 EV becomes a slow-selling curiosity next to the diesel U9 that buyers already understand.

Cartell Assessment

The U9 EV is the easy product to admire and the hard one to price. An electric dual-cab that tows 3,500kg removes the single biggest objection to a battery ute, and on the spec sheet MG looks to have done the engineering. The problem is the buyer. Tradies and tow-everything families do long, unpredictable days, and 430km of range turns into a lot less with a loaded tray and a trailer behind it. This ute will live or die on its price and on how honest MG is about real-world range under load. A diesel HiLux does not care how far the last job was. An electric ute has to make the buyer not care either.

AU Outlook

Expect the diesel U9 to land first and the U9 EV to follow once MG has read how the diesel sells. The number to wait for is the price. If MG can put the U9 EV on the road for close to a mid-spec diesel dual-cab, it has a genuine case. If it arrives carrying a large EV premium, it joins the list of electric utes that look right on paper and stay parked on the lot. Approval was the easy part. The pricing call is the one that counts.