It’s been two years since MG dropped the 6 from their UK line-up, although the car soldiered on in China until replacement late last year. So when SAIC invited us to their 2018 Overseas Media Tour event with the tagline Energize the Future, we were brimming with curiosity.

When we arrived at Shanghai’s Tianma Race Circuit, a shorter track than the one used for the F1 GP, a collection of the latest cars from both MG and Maxus awaited us. Maxus started off as SAIC’s commercial vehicle arm made up of the remnants of LDV, a brand name it still uses in some markets such as Australia and Ireland. Recently the marque has morphed into yet another passenger brand, firstly with the G10 MPV and last year with the D90 large SUV. And of the cars available for testing, the D90 was in many ways the most impressive. High build quality and good performance are a promising start for a car rumoured to be the basis of the future large MG SUV and that has already spawned the Roewe RX8.

Mark Andrews has written about everything from Japanese houses to heli hikes on New Zealand glaciers, test drives of Chinese cars to bar and restaurant reviews. He currently specialises in travel articles and reviews of Chinese cars plus articles about the Chinese auto industry.