MG Motor India – still on the rise

In recent months we have brought you a number of stories that reflect the success story of MG Motor India.

For a brief period about 18 months ago, political tensions between India and China seemed to threaten to derail the meteoric climb of the MG across India, but recently those tensions seem to have faded into the background, as the company has followed up the Indian launch of the MG ZS EV (see recent issues) with a series of promotions such as an extended free charging offer (that runs until June), tie-ups with local engineering design institutions, and sponsorship deals with Indian sports personalities, the latest being Golfer Tvesa Malik.

Talking about the partnership with Malik, Udit Malhotra, MG Motor India’s Head of Marketing, said, ‘India is a land of enormous talent and a home to popular sports, including golf. With the growing interest of youngsters (especially women) in the sport, golf has the potential to put India on a global map, especially after our country signed off fourth in the Olympic Games 2021. This association is in line with our core values of encouraging young women in sports.’

Tvesa Malik was pictured alongside the new ZS EV, and reinforcing the company’s drive to encourage more customers to adopt electric vehicles, it launched a campaign (loosely modelled in one already seen in Australia) to provide ‘1,000 chargers in 1,000 days’. Rajeev Chaba, the President and Managing Director of MG Motor India, said, ‘MG is constantly working towards its mission of enhancing the EV ecosystem in India. With the launch of MG Charge, we will bring increased convenience and address the charging concern of the customers, encouraging more to adopt the EV lifestyle.’

Meanwhile, in the background, we hear that the on-off plans for a further MG Motor India plant are quietly back on again, with negotiations reported to be underway with a number of regional state governments, including Gujurat where its main base is located. Linked to this, we suspect, is the company’s stated ambition to add a new smaller entry-level MG model, another special model for India although doubtless derived, like the much larger Gloster and Hector models (the petrol ZS is sold in India as the MG Astor). Most likely basis for this new smaller model, also to be an EV, is the SAIC-GM-Wuling ‘Mini EV’. If as expected the new ‘MG E230’ arrives in India early in 2023, that will be the first market outside China for this model, which is already proving popular in China.

As if to confirm the rumours, Rajeev Chaba told the local Business Standard that MG Motor India would be ‘continuing the EV story’, adding; ‘we are launching another [lower-priced] EV in the first quarter of next year. The two put together, we should be able to sell 30,000 EVs next year. This will make us the Number One manufacturer in terms of percentage of sales’.

MG Motor India offered free charging for customers until late June.

Rajeev Chaba, the President and Managing Director of MG Motor India, is championing

the MG ZS EV as India’s first true family-friendly EV, and kicked off a campaign to deliver 1,000 EV charger inside 1,000 days.

MG Motor India has forged links with a number of local engineering colleges, hoping to nurture future talent in the industry and not least to bolster the ranks of its own engineering resources.

Professional Golfer Tvesa Malik is the latest in a growing number of India female sports personalities to be linked with MG Motor India