MG Motors India, which sells a premium-priced ZS EV in the the country is gung-ho about the growing demand for electric vehicles and is now planning to come out with an affordable electric passenger car to take on the Tata Nexon.
The new EV will reportedly be based on a platform the company uses globally; however, it will be customized to suit the Indian market and driving conditions. This battery-operated car is expected to launch by March 2023, says a report published in the Economic Times.
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Most importantly, MG Motor India President and Managing Director Rajeev Chaba has said that the upcoming car will be a mass-market car priced around Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 15 lakh. This again is a sweet spot because, barring a couple of vehicles from Tata, there are hardly any cars selling in this price range.
The company hopes that this could become the EV that can sell in massive numbers, which augurs well for both the company, end-users, and the EV segment as a whole. The company is looking to localize parts like battery assembly, motors, and other components to meet the federal government’s PLI scheme.
MG Motor’s affordable EV will be tailormade for Indian conditions
Chaba said that the company "will customize this car for the range and the Indian regulations and customer taste...It will be specially tailored for India. We will start working on it right now."
To recall, recently, we came across a piece of news suggesting that the electric vehicle segment recorded a staggering growth of 234% in the country's six months of April to September 2021. The top contributors to the growth were three cars – Tata Nexon, MG ZS EV, and Tata Tigor – with Nexon leading by a fair margin.
This is indeed a straightforward giveaway that users are open to switching to zero-emission vehicles provided there are enough options in the market.
That said, this growth is still minuscule compared to the country's ICE vehicle market. However, this might change soon, thanks to the government policies and brands like Tata, Mahindra, Hyundai, etc., committing to launching vehicles across the price range.
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