MG Motor plans second India unit, may launch affordable EV shortly

MG Motor plans to ramp up its capacity and set up a second facility in India in the background of growing demand for its cars in the country and to manufacture new models. Future releases for the Indian market including a potential affordable electric car.  The Brand plans to release the full-size SUV MG Gloster accessible in the market by Diwali 2020. The vehicle is probably going to be in the Rs 40-50 lakh proce range. In one-and-a-half years of its activities in India the company will have four products on the market. It is planning another SUV as the fifth product within 2021 and afterwards will require a new plant to cater to the market.

In Gujarat, MG Motor’s Halol factory, previously owned by General Motors India Pvt Ltd, can produce around 80,000-100,000 units. Gaurav Gupta, Chief Commercial Officer, MG Motor India, said the company ramped up production from 3,000 Hector vehicles a month to 3,500 and now looking to expand to 4,000 a month. The waiting period for the Hector, India’s first model of the product, has plummeted from six months earlier to 3-4 months. The ramp up of demand is likely to further bring it down. Gupta said production has been affected on the impact of coronavirus in the month of February and the company is not able to ramp up production as planned. If supplies do not open, production will also impact in March, Gupta said, without revealing the extent.

The first model of engine in India, the Hector, has already passed 50,000 units. The company claims to be India’s first internet car and has emerged as the market leader in the C-SUV segment with nearly 20,000 units sold since its launch last year in India. The planned second plant, which could even be installed in South India, will have a higher capacity than that at Halol, as the company is looking to launch new products, including electric vehicles and batteries. He did not disclose investments numbers for the proposed facility. MG Motor had committed about Rs 5,000 crore for Halol and so far invested around Rs 2,000 crore. MG expect greater policy support to make electric vehicles in India and set up charging infrastructure.