MG is expected to price the vehicle aggressively at around Rs 10 lakh and will kit it out with the latest tech and gadgets to make it more appealing to the value-for-money minded customers in India. The new budget MG EV is expected to launch in India sometime in the middle of 2023.
MG to introduce a tweaked version of the Air EV in India
MG Motors India, which has shown its interest to introduce a low-cost EV in India, might soon actually make it a reality. The now Chinese-owned British brand intends to bring in the Wuling’s Air EV from its sister company. The Wuling’s Air EV is based on the group’s Global Small Electric Vehicles (GSEV) platform that facilitates multiple body styles and has been adapted across multiple markets and their demands.
The Air EV may be brought into the Indian market as a budget EV offering and will also incorporate certain crucial changes to better suit it to the market. An important aspect of this is the thermal management in battery packs and air conditioning, which will be upgraded for the Indian conditions. The vehicle will also wear the MG badge and the name of the vehicle may also be changed.
The Air EV draws design cues from the Hongguang Mini EV especially when it comes to the squared outlines. The Air EV however does implement a more modern iteration with a full-width light bar with chrome, integrated door handles, a split LED headlamp setup and a set of characterful creases along the body of the car. The two-door set-up on the Air EV might be revised for India, as two-door vehicles haven’t succeeded in the Indian market. The vehicle that was launched in Indonesia comes with steel wheels and a plastic hub cap. The Indian car will likely get alloys instead.
The rear end of the design is neat and tidy with a curved windscreen and small tail lamps that almost resemble the front fascia of the car. At the back too, the car gets a wrap-around light bar connecting the two tail lamps with the number plate housing sitting underneath. The footprint of the car would be rather short. For context, the overall length of the car, which is around 2.9m, is about 400mm shorter than a Maruti Suzuki Alto. MG might play the compact dimensions of the car in favour by stating the advantages of a smaller car inside a crowded city.
The car is expected to get a battery pack that could have a capacity of about 20-25kWh and could provide a driving range of 150km. The car could be positioned strictly as an urban runabout meaning that the car would end up serving as a third or fourth car in a household. This is a growing trend in China and Hongguang’s range of micro EVs have tasted decent success in this market. The car will also pack in a giant touchscreen, a digital instrument cluster and a host of connectivity features to justify a Rs 10 lakh price tag.
The price of the vehicle is being kept in check by locally sourcing the battery packs. The Air EV will take its battery from Tata Autocomp which has now formed a JV with Chinese supplier Gotion. Tata Autocomp will source the design, manufacture, supply and service of Li-ion battery packs from them to cater to similar requirements in the country. The car is likely to adopt LFP cylindrical cells, much like what’s used in the Tata Nexon EV. These cells are cost-effective, better suited to Indian conditions and reliable.
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