When customers contact Singapore bespoke tailoring business Made Suits, founder Benjamin Tay normally expects them to be asking about jackets, shirts or suits.
A Korean drama production team had a very different request.
They wanted his MG Cyberster.
The bright two-seat electric roadster was recently used during a Korean drama shoot outside JW Marriott Singapore South Beach, with Tay sharing behind-the-scenes footage of the unexpected cameo on Xiaohongshu and Instagram.
Then came the detail that turned a local car-loan story into something much bigger for K-entertainment fans.
Tay later revealed in an Instagram comment that Jo I-geon, the South Korean actor who became widely known through Netflix’s Single’s Inferno Season 5, is involved in the production.
Jo had also been posting photographs from Singapore since August 29, including an image taken at the pool of JW Marriott Singapore South Beach, adding further confirmation that he had been in the city during the filming period.
But one rather important detail remains secret:
Nobody has publicly revealed what drama they were actually shooting.
The Car Costs Around S$330,000 in Singapore
This was not an ordinary vehicle casually borrowed for a background shot.
The MG Cyberster is MG’s electric two-seat roadster, designed as a modern EV interpretation of the marque’s classic roadster heritage.
CNA and 8Days put the Singapore price at roughly S$330,000, while local listings have placed different Cyberster variants broadly in the S$320,000-to-S$340,000 range depending on model, COE and timing.
MG Singapore’s own 2026 price lists illustrate how dramatically local car prices can move with COE conditions. In May, for example, its official list showed the Cyberster RWD at S$333,888 before specified rebates, while the more powerful AWD was listed at S$352,888.
The car is visually made for television.
MG equips the Cyberster with electrically operated scissor doors and a powered convertible roof. The manufacturer says its high-performance version can accelerate from 0 to 100kmh in 3.2 seconds.
That combination — dramatic doors, low roadster shape and open-top styling — helps explain why a production looking for an instantly recognisable luxury-sports-car visual might want one on camera.
The Owner Didn’t Just Lend the Cyberster — He Drove It During Filming
Tay’s involvement went slightly further than simply handing over his keys.
He told 8Days that he actually drove the Cyberster for Jo I-geon during the shoot.
Tay described being surprised and excited when the Korean production contacted him, especially because he already watches Korean dramas.
Seeing his own car appearing beside a Korean actor, he said, felt “quite surreal.”
Exactly how the Cyberster will appear on screen remains unknown.
There has been no public confirmation yet of whether it belongs to Jo’s character, appears only during one sequence or plays a more substantial role.
And that mystery is arguably what makes the behind-the-scenes footage more intriguing.
Fans have effectively seen a piece of the production before being told what the production is.
Why Jo I-geon Is Suddenly a Much Bigger Name
Jo is not completely new to acting.
Before Single’s Inferno, he appeared in the Netflix Korean drama The Trunk, starring Gong Yoo and Seo Hyun-jin, playing Yun Ji-oh. Singapore entertainment coverage also lists the actor among the late entrants who shook up Single’s Inferno Season 5.
But the dating show gave him a substantially larger international audience.
Netflix officially listed Jo among the 15 contestants in Season 5, where he entered later in the competition as one of the contestants brought in to change the island’s relationship dynamics.
His storyline with Kim Go-eun became one of the season’s biggest talking points.
Although Go-eun did not choose Jo in the original finale, the two reconnected during Netflix’s reunion programme, where an extended dinner conversation revived viewer interest in their relationship.
Go-eun later clarified in March that the two were not dating in real life, despite continuing fan interest in the pairing.
The show’s fifth season itself became a major streaming performer. CNA reported in February that it had spent two consecutive weeks at No. 2 on Netflix’s global non-English TV ranking and accumulated more than 37 million viewing hours during that stretch, while ranking No. 1 in markets including Singapore and South Korea.
That means a Singapore shoot involving Jo now carries significantly more attention than it might have before the programme aired.
But the Bigger Story May Be Singapore’s K-Drama Boom
Jo I-geon and a borrowed electric sports car are the fun part of the story.
The more significant trend is what has been happening around them.
Singapore has become increasingly visible as a location for major Korean productions during 2026.
Netflix romance Spooky In Love, starring Park Eun-bin and Yang Se-jong, devoted substantial portions of episodes nine and 10 to Singapore, with scenes filmed at Resorts World Sentosa, Clarke Quay, Kampong Glam, Chinatown, Lau Pa Sat and the Singapore Oceanarium.
The Singapore Tourism Board said that production was supported through the Singapore On-Screen Fund, run with IMDA. STB said it worked with the production team to select locations that could serve the storyline while showcasing different aspects of Singapore to international viewers.
That is not simply about providing pretty backgrounds.
It is a form of destination marketing.
When internationally distributed dramas integrate a city into their plots, restaurants, attractions and neighborhoods can become recognizable to millions of viewers — and potentially destinations for fans.
Ju Ji-hoon and Lee Jun-ho Have Already Filmed Here Too
Another major Korean Netflix production, Buy King, filmed scenes in Singapore earlier this year.
The drama stars Ju Ji-hoon and Lee Jun-ho, with local casting calls seeking Singapore-based extras for filming between late April and early May.
The Singapore Tourism Board has described Buy King as the first project under a three-year partnership with South Korean production company Mr Romance. STB said the series was shooting on location in Singapore as part of a wider effort to use film and television to highlight the city internationally.
That makes the Cyberster story less of an isolated celebrity encounter and more of another sign of how regularly Singapore is appearing inside Korean entertainment productions.
And Another Singapore-Korea Drama Is Already Coming
Just one day before CNA published the Jo I-geon story, Mediacorp formally unveiled another cross-border project.
Collateral Romance will be a 12-episode romantic comedy starring Kim Myung-soo, also known as L from Infinite, and Pyo Ye-jin, with Singaporean actress Gladys Bay also in the cast.
It is being filmed across both South Korea and Singapore and is scheduled to premiere in the first half of 2027.
Mediacorp says the show is its second Korean drama co-production and is backed by Singapore’s IMDA.
The company has separately announced plans with South Korea’s Studio S and Soonshot to develop four short-form Korean-Singapore productions, widening the collaboration beyond conventional hour-long dramas.
In other words, Singapore is no longer occasionally appearing in a K-drama because a particular script happens to require an overseas trip.
A more organized production pipeline is emerging.
One Borrowed Cyberster Shows How Local Businesses Can End Up Inside Global Entertainment
There is a smaller business story buried inside all of this.
Benjamin Tay does not run a car-rental company.
He runs a bespoke tailoring business.
Yet a Korean production searching locally for the right visual asset found his sports car and placed it inside a television production.
That is an example of how international shoots can involve local businesses and individuals in unexpected ways — from vehicles and venues to extras, food suppliers, production services and location owners.
The final value of that exposure will depend heavily on what makes it into the finished programme.
A few seconds in the background is very different from a major hero-car sequence.
But the fact that Tay was also driving during filming suggests the vehicle was being actively incorporated into production rather than merely parked as set dressing.
For now, that is about as far as confirmed reporting allows us to go.
The One Detail Everyone Still Wants: What Drama Is This?
This is where speculation needs to stop.
Several Korean productions have recently been filming in Singapore, but CNA and 8Days did not identify Jo I-geon’s project by title, and there is no reliable confirmation in the available reporting linking the Cyberster shoot to Buy King, Collateral Romance or any other announced series.
So it would be inaccurate to attach Jo to one of those productions without confirmation.
What is known is straightforward:
A Korean production crew filmed at JW Marriott Singapore South Beach.
A Singapore business owner lent them his MG Cyberster.
He says he drove the car for Jo I-geon during filming.
Jo has been photographed in Singapore.
And details of the drama itself are still being kept under wraps.
That mystery may not last long.
But until the production is announced, Singapore fans are left with an unusually expensive clue parked right in front of them.
Leave a Reply