British Man Kidnapped By His Chinese EV

In what sounds like the plot from some early 2000s science fiction movie, a man in the UK claims his MG ZS EV malfunctioned and kidnapped him. He had to navigate around obstacles on the road as the electric car continued accelerating out of control, finally crashing into a police vehicle to get it to stop.

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What you might not know since MG is no longer in the US market is that the historic British brand is now owned by SAIC Motor Corporation Limited, a state-owned Chinese automaker. Sure, the company has its headquarters in London, but it answers directly to the Chinese Communist Party, putting an interesting wrinkle in this EV kidnapping story.

The whole story is detailed out in a Daily Mail story and it’s quite interesting. Thankfully the electric vehicle wasn’t careening out of control at 80 mph but instead was puttering along nonstop at 30 mph as the 53-year-old man behind the wheel tried desperately to not cause a horrible accident.

Thankfully, he thought to call police, who positioned a van in front of his EV, allowing it to slowly hit it and finally slow to a stop. Before that, police had the man throw his key fob out to see if that would stop the vehicle, but it didn’t work. We’ve been able to drive off without a fob in a vehicle before, something that could leave you stranded once you turn off the engine later. If only manual transmissions were a thing still because popping the transmission into neutral would stop any runaway situation. Technology sure is neat.

There are many questions about what exactly happened and for now no real answers. MG told Daily Mail it’s been trying to contact the owner of the malfunctioning EV so engineers can inspect it. Meanwhile, the owner took his vehicle to a mechanic, who upon running diagnostics found “pages of faults.” Chinese cars are definitely of the upmost quality.

Police and the man’s insurance company are conducting their own investigations. Maybe this will become an international relations situation. With Chinese car brands like MG taking over the European market, a story like this could really throw a monkey wrench in things.

Images via MG