JSW Group and MG Motor India formally announced the JV’s new brand identity in the country as ‘JSW MG Motor India’, and the partnership is looking to not only looking to accelerate the introduction of new products but also looking beyond to deepen synergies.
In fact, the company which currently has five models on sale in India – MG Comet EV, MG Astor, MG Hector, MG ZS EV and MG Gloster, aims to introduce one new model every 3 to 6 months, with the first 2 products an electric vehicle and an IC-vehicle scheduled to be launched by September 2024.
What’s more Sajjan Jindal, Chairman, JSW Group, who reminisced about his childhood dream to build a car, told Financial Express Online he has robust plans for JSW MG Motor India, including setting up a Design and R&D Centre in the country.
Once announced this will mark the first design centre for MG Motor outside Europe, but also SAIC Motor’s first in India. It is important to note that, one of the key criticism for global auto brands has been their lack of insights into the Indian consumer mindset, especially, when it comes to design. For instance, the top 10 cars sold in 2023 in India was dominated by Maruti Suzuki (Swift, WagonR, Baleno, Brezza, Dzire, Eeco, Ertiga), Tata Motors (Nexon, Punch) and Hyundai Motor India (Creta).
There is also growing traction by automakers to not only incorporate some changes but also focus on designing products grounds up in India for the local as well as export markets. And if Jindal has to be believed one could look at India-designed JSW MG Motor India product soon. This is also due to the fact that at present, MG Motor has 9 products in its portfolio – MG4 EV XPower, MG4EV, MG ZS EV, MG5 EV Long Range, MG3 Hybrid+, MG HS Plug-in Hybrid, MG3, MG ZS and MG HS. But not all products might be suited for the Indian road conditions or find the market fit. This means, that JSW MG Motor India’s target of introducing a minimum of 2 to 4 cars a year, will need the company to start designing products in the country.
Rajeev Chaba, CEO Emeritus, JSW MG Motor India revealed that currently its products have a localisation level ranging from 50 percent to 90 percent depending on the model.
Going forward, the company is also looking to increase localisation levels and expects to onboard new vendors, who are expected to invest in tandem with JSW MG Motor India’s plans.
In addition, the JV is also looking to leverage JSW’s Group business that includes automotive steel supply, shipping & port business, energy, cement and infrastructure among others.
JSW Group will also appoint a person to the Board of JSW MG Motor India.
When queried about if the JV will look at introducing new models from SAIC portfolio, the company said the focus remained on the current partnership.
“Our focus is to bring the best available technology for India, be it from USA, Germany, Japan, Korea or China,” shared Jindal.
It was in February, that Jindal Group which has announced Rs 40,000 crore investment towards setting up of an integrated electric vehicle and battery manufacturing plant in Odisha. Jindal also shared that in addition to being a preferred supplier to JSW MG Motor India for EV battery, motors and controller, it is also entering the commercial vehicle space.
Introducing Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) is also something that the partners are open to exploring.
