MG Motors made its debut in the Indian automotive market with the launch of the Hector SUV on the 27th of June this year. Since then, the company has been on a roll and had received 28,000 bookings by July 2019, a figure which has grown to a higher number now. Rival to the likes of the Tata Harrier, Mahindra XUV500, and Kia Seltos among others, the MG Hector has completed a production run of 5,000 units recently. The 5000th unit of the SUV was rolled out of MG’s Halol plant in Gujarat. The British origins-Chinese owned manufacturer sold 2,018 units of Hector in August which is pretty decent for a vehicle in the mid-size SUV segment. It’s likely that both the Tata Harrier and Mahindra XUV500 have lower numbers than the MG Hector in August 2019 given the sheer drop in car sales last month. Even in July 2019, the Hector outsold both the Mahindra XUV500 and Tata Harrier quite comprehensively.
One of the many reasons behind the success of the Hector is its price, which starts at Rs. 12.18 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). This enables the SUV to undercut its rivals like the Tata Harrier by a substantial margin. In fact, the launch if the Hector has resulted in a decline of sales for other competitors like the Jeep Compass and the Tata Harrier. Further, the Hector comes with both petrol and diesel engine options along with an automatic gearbox option in petrol models. Bookings for the Hector are currently on a halt but dealers are creating a waitlist for the people who will get deliveries in 2020.
Further, MG announced a unique initiative called ‘Worth Waiting For’ recently which rewards those customers who are waiting for the Hector. Customers waiting for delivery will get 1,000 reward points per week which can later be used to get free official accessories from MG dealers. Speaking about the SUV, the Hector was India’s second non-premium vehicle to feature connected apps technology. It is also the biggest vehicle in its segment in terms of length and height. The powertrain option of the Hector includes a 1.4-litre turbo petrol engine and a 2.0-litre turbo diesel engine. The diesel engine comes mated to a 6-speed manual transmission only but the petrol engine also gets a choice of a dual-clutch automatic transmission.
Speaking of the power outputs, the 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine generates a maximum power of 143 PS and 250 Nm of peak torque. The diesel engine, on the other hand, produces a maximum of 170 PS and peak torque of 350 Nm. MG Motors also offers a 48V mild-hybrid technology with the petrol engine option. It adds another 20Nm to the overall power but it is only available with a 6-speed manual transmission. MG’s next vehicle for India will be the eZS electric SUV which is expected to launch during the first quarter of 2020. This will soon be followed by the seven-seater version of the Hector. For now, MG is focusing only on SUV as that, according to the company, is the fastest-growing segment in India.