One new car, mainly electric, every three to six months, starting this September. Premiumisation, localisation and an aggressive roadmap to capture one-fourth of India’s nascent new energy car market before the decade is out. Jindals announced their takeover of MG Motor’s India business with a a slew of big ticket announcements on Wednesday.
“Not only for India but exported to global markets,” said Sajjan Jindal, chairman of Jindal Steel. “That is my passion, that is my dream.”
He called it the ‘Maruti moment’ for India’s new energy and electric vehicle segment, pointing to how the market leader’s launch of a small car in the early '80s energised India’s dormant automobile sector, now the third largest in the world.
“We can give the Indian consumer what they want — world class cars at affordable prices,” said Jindal.
Production capacity will be increased from the current 1 lakh to 3 lakh cars a year.
JSW becomes the majority shareholder of MG in India after taking over the stakes of Chinese owner SAIC, which was forced to dilute its majority stake after India’s string of de-China-isation rule amendments following 2020’s Ladakh clashes. The company will now be called JSW-MG Motor India.
“I really believe in India,” he said, adding the company will go for deep localisation in technology and parts.
MG under JSW intends to bring in hybrid plug-ins to alleviate the fundamental range anxiety that EVs have in consumer’s minds. JSW officials said that soon enough, charging points will become as commonplace as PCO booths used to be at one point of time.
Parth Jindal added that the company intend to have one third of all electric cars in India by the close of this decade
“We always had dreams of building a car,” said Parth. “When new technology came in 2016-17, we thought, this is our opportunity,” Sajjan Jindal reminisced.
MG Motor India is already, as CEO Emeritus Rajeev Chaba put it, “nation’s fastest growing” car maker in less than a decade, with hit models like Hector and Aster, as well as a reputation for internet technologies and its push for electric cars.
MG India’s Chinese parent SAIC is a biggie by itself, selling 50 lakh cars last year, a quarter of them electric. The giant is also into insurance, e-commerce, battery making and even ride rental.
