SAIC Motor has unveiled its first electric model developed "with global markets in mind", which is expected to help China's largest carmaker to explore overseas markets.

The model, called Mulan under its MG marque, is the result of its British and Chinese teams for customers in China and abroad, said MG CEO Zhang Liang.

Naming the model after the well-known Chinese folk heroine, the carmaker said the electric hatchback embodies "strength, courage, and being yourself".

The Mulan is built on SAIC's new Xingyun, or Nebula, platform designed solely for all-electric cars and sports the carmaker's One Pack battery whose energy density reaches 180 Wh/kg.

It measures 4,287 mm in length, 1,836 mm in width, 1,516 mm in height. It has a wheelbase that spans 2,705 mm, but can sprint from zero to 100 km/hour within 3.8 seconds.

The Mulan features a "zero thermal runway" system to prevent it from catching fire or an incident of thermal runaway.

MG said the model is developed in accordance with the European New Car Assessment Program, one of the strictest of its kind in the world.

MG has been the most popular Chinese brand in overseas markets for three years in a row, available in over 80 countries and regions, said the carmaker.

In the first four months this year, MG sold over 14,000 new energy vehicles in European countries, ranking first among Chinese car marques.

Zhang said the Mulan will help MG explore the overseas market by striving to stand for Chinese high-end technology.

"Globally, we hope that it will become something as Volkswagen's Golf, a model popular across the world," he said.

Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that carmakers in China exported 39,000 new energy vehicles in May, accounting for 21.2 percent of total vehicle exports from the country.

Of them, SAIC shipped overseas 8,212 units, ranking first among Chinese carmakers, according to the CAAM.