MG Motors announced their first car for the Indian market and have also priced it very competitively. While bookings for the Hector started from June 4, 2019 – online as well as at dealer level, it was only last night that the company announced that it has crossed 10,000 bookings. Most of the bookings, MG says, were placed at a 50:50 ratio for the petrol as well as diesel models. All the MG dealerships have the petrol-manual, petrol-automatic and the diesel-manual versions on offer for a test drive. We’ve driven the petrol-automatic as well as diesel-manual versions and you can read all about it here.
Speaking of which, the MG Hector is available with two engines. The petrol is a 1.5-litre turbocharged unit that produces 143PS/250Nm. It can also be ordered with a mild hybrid option that brings in a 48V battery pack. This battery pack provides an additional 20Nm torque boost at lower rpms. Moreover, there is also an auto start-stop available. MG says that emissions are reduced significantly while the efficiency goes up too. With the mild-hybrid, only the 6-speed manual transmission is available while the regular petrol can also be ordered with a 6-speed dual clutch transmission. The diesel is the familiar 2.0-litre 170PS/350Nm, Multijet II motor from the FCA. This engine, at the moment, is paired to a 6-speed manual. All the engines are sufficiently refined but are only BS-IV compliant at the moment.
You have heard this before. The MG Hector boasts a lot of features in its class. It also comes with AI-equipped voice controlled navigation as well as smartphone integrated commands. Electrically adjustable front seats, a panoramic sunroof and cameras on all four sides of the car are available as well. The Hector competes with the Harrier, Creta, Captur and XUV500. A comprehensive warranty and aftersales service package also tilts the favour towards the Hector. It will be interesting to see the sales numbers of the Hector.