It looks vaguely 1960's, and that's not surprising, given that Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, owners of the MG brand, have taken some of the styling cues for their Icon compact SUV concept from the 1965 MGB GT.
The Icon will be shown in public for the first time at the Auto China expo in Beijing next week, and the industry buzz is that it previews a production model that's planned for release on the Chinese market in 2014.
Apparently it's built on the same platform as the Chinese-market Roewe 350 and MG 5 - which would make it about the same size as a Nissan Juke - with rear-hinged 'suicide' rear doors a la Mazda RX8 and a 101kW/200Nm, 1.5-litre turbopetrol four.
The rest of it is very Mini/DS3 in execution, with four individual bucket seats, the rear two able to fold into the floor to expand the load bay.
Apart from the 'rocketship' vertical running lights in the front bumpers (we're hoping those don't make into production), SAIC seems to have got the mix of retro and modern styling just right - it's a little less 'trad' than a Mini but not as gung-ho as a Juke.
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