Parth Jindal, member of steering committee of the new JV, unveiled the new brand identity for JSW MG Motor India, following JSW Group’s acquisition of 35% stake in MG Motor India from SAIC.
“We want to launch one new designed car every 3-4 months. The idea is to create a Maruti moment,” said Sajjan Jindal, Chairman, JSW Group.
In the 90s, Maruti brought in new cars and now they have 50% market share. With MG, JSW can create New Energy Vehicle Maruti moment, Jindal said. He also said the focus on new energy vehicles is important to reduce India’s dependency on oil imports.
India will be at par with the world as far as EVs are concerned and JSW MG Motor India will produce most advanced modern EVs, Jindal said.
“September onwards every three to four months we will also export them. We will deepen localistion, manufacture them here in India. That’s my passion. With the technology from MG and group’s strength, we are also building charging system,” the chairman said.JSW MG Motor also plans to foray into premium passenger vehicle segment and by 2030, it aims to take leadership position in the NEV category with an extensive product portfolio.MG unveiled a new offering MG Cyberster, which will be part of the company’s premium offering.
MG aims to capture 33% of the market of the New Energy vehicle segment by 2030, intending to sell one million passenger EVs in the year 2030 apart from all the other products that the company sells, said Parth Jindal, Managing Director of JSW Cement. MG India 1.0 has had a very good 5 years and it is now up to the joint venture to make MG 2.0 even more impactful and successful, he said.
The company will increase its production in Halol, Gujarat, mainly making NEVS. This will help the car maker produce a lot more cars each year, going from over 100,000 now to as many as 300,000.
PTI cited MG Motor India Chairman Emeritus Rajeev Chaba saying that JSW MG Motor India will invest Rs 5,000 crore to enhance production capacity. “We have announced today that we are going to have our second plant in Gujarat near our existing unit at Halol itself,” Chaba told PTI.
“The total investment from all stakeholders in this space is going to be over Rs 5,000 crore on capacity enhancement and new product introductions,” he said.
India will move from selling four million cars to 10 million cars over the next 10 years, Parth Jindal said.
MG Motor, a British brand owned by Shanghai-headquartered SAIC Motor in 2023 entered into a joint venture with the JSW Group. As part of the arrangement, Jindal’s JSW Group will hold 35 per cent of the company’s India operations. As per the agreement, SAIC will continue supporting the joint venture with advanced technology and products to deliver mobility solutions with a focus on the Indian consumer.
“The joint venture plans to launch a new product, including NEVS, every three to six months, beginning this festive season, with two new products slated to be launched this calendar year. These futuristic products with attractive value propositions enable the joint venture’s foray into the premium passenger vehicle channel,” the company said.
MG Motor is looking at this tie-up with JSW Group to drive the company’s next phase of growth.
It entered the Indian market in 2019, and has sold around 2 lakh units since then. It has also invested close to Rs 7,000 crore so far.
MG Motor in 2023 sold around 60,000 units, up nearly 25 per cent from the 48,000 units sold in 2022. On an annual basis, MG Motor India has registered growth for four consecutive years.
As part of its growth plan, MG Motor India plans to establish a second manufacturing facility in Gujarat, in addition to its Halol unit. The new unit is intended to more than double the company’s installed capacity to a total of 3 lakh units, from the current 1.2 lakh units.
MG Motor’s India EV ambitions
EVs form a significant chunk of the automobile company’s overall sales, at around 33 per cent as of February 2024.
“Electric vehicles are a focus area for expanding operations in India. We are going to launch at least one new vehicle this year, and it will be an electric,” Rajeev Chaba, chairman emeritus, MG Motor India, told ET at the Bharat Mobility Show in February 2024.
MG Motor India intends to introduce 4-5 new vehicle models, mostly electric variants and aims to derive 65-75% of its sales from EVs by 2028.
While inking the agreement, Jindal had said that they wanted to pursue development of the EV ecosystem in India and to take a leadership position in the space eventually. Tata Motors currently dominates passenger EV sales in India, with MG Motor’s overall market share in the EV space being close to 2 per cent.
Demand for EVs in India has steadily picked up in recent years, partly also because of government push via subsidies. The Centre expects India’s EV market to grow to one crore units in annual sales by 2030, as per the Economic Survey 2022-23.
EVs formed around 2 per cent of overall car sales in India in 2023. The government is targeting to take this up to 30 per cent by 2030.