MG Motor India confirmed the launch of all-electric SUV within a year after the inaugural premium SUV’s market entry in Q2 2019
MG Motor India is entering the domestic market with a premium SUV in the sub 25 lakh segment rivalling Honda CR-V and the top-end variants of Jeep Compass. Scheduled to arrive in the second quarter of 2019, the inaugural MG vehicles for India will kick-start its innings with 45 dealerships and 100 touch points.
The British brand has plans to increase the production capacity at Halol plant from 80,000 to 2,00,000 units in the near future as well. The India-bound products will be designed and engineered by MG in the United Kingdom and China with inputs from local base.
The premium SUV will be powered by a 168 hp 1.5-litre petrol and probably Fiat sourced 170 hp 2.0-litre diesel already in use in the Compass. The second MG model in India will be an all-electric SUV within a year of the aforementioned premium SUV’s launch and it could be called eZS or ZSe with estimated range of around 420 km on a single charge.
A recent report emerged on the internet stated that MG Motor could use the expertise from Roewe, a premium brand also owned by SAIC. The Roewe vehicles could be rebadged as MG and sold here, said President and Managing Director of MG Motor India, Rajeev Chaba.
He further explained that all products of SAIC Motor are available to the global MG brand as they do share vehicle architectures. This will help MG in expanding its range of offering and perhaps respond to the latest market trends. Roewe is considered, as one of the two indigenous Chinese luxury brands alongside Hongqi and it is preferred in global markets.
With a big lineup of cars such as 950 sedan, 360 sedan, E50 supermini, along with a range of SUVs such as flagship RX8, RX7/Marvel X, RX5, RX3, etc. The RX7 and RX5 are available as electric variants as well and they could aid in the developmental stages of the India-spec e-SUV launching in early 2020.
The Roewe eRX5 pure electric SUV was already spied testing in India and it was even showcased at MOVE Summit in New Delhi last month, hinting at the direction in which MG Motor would head in developing the EV on its own. With investment of over Rs. 5,000 crore in the operations, MG Motor does have India at the core of its global sales aspirations.