MG Motor India to launch electric SUV in 2020

British car brand MG Motor has announced that its second product for the Indian market will be a fully electric vehicle and will be launched commercially in the first half of 2020.

"MG will launch a pure-electric SUV in India. The pure electric SUV will be a breakthrough chapter in the EV space in India, being one of its kind in the market," said Michael Yang, Executive Director of International Business, SAIC Motor & President of SAIC Motor International Company. SAIC owns MG Motor.

MG Motor’s electric sport utility vehicle (SUV) is possibly the second of its kind after India’s second largest passenger vehicle maker Hyundai gets ready to retail the Kona electric SUV in second half of 2019.

Car market leader Maruti Suzuki will also launch its first electric vehicle in 2020.

MG Motor’s first for India vehicle will roll out from its Halol plant in Gujarat in the second quarter of next year. The new SUV will be larger than the Hyundai Creta with a price point that is expected to be competitive considering the 80 percent localization on the model promised by the company.

The company has gone for a top-down approach for India wherein the more expensive models will be rolled out first followed by the cheaper models at later stages. Internet and artificial intelligence could play a critical role in helping the auto maker's products differentiate from the rest.

"With cars getting transformed with internet, artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing etc. – MG can take advantage of this transformation and will use it as its key differentiator, enabling it to stand out from the crowd," Yang added.

MG Motor India is in the process of finalizing around 45 dealer partners to begin its sales next year, with around 100 touch points across India in the first phase. The car maker will hire close to 1,500 employees by the end of 2019, compared to the strength of 300 employees at present.

"As part of our commitment to this market, we are fast ramping up all our pre-launch activities, beginning with product roadshows for consumers in India next month. This will be followed by various brand-awareness initiatives to get closer to our prospective customers,"said Rajeev Chaba, President & Managing Director, MG Motor India.

"All our products will be designed and engineered in UK and China with the support of Indian engineers," Chaba added.

The current capacity at the Halol manufacturing facility stands at 80,000 units per annum. This will be expanded to 2 lakh units going forward, depending on the requirement.