Kochi: Kerala reports 6.5% of the sales of passenger vehicles in India, but, for MG Motor India, the state accounts for 9.5 per cent of its sales, the company’s Chief Commercial Officer Gaurav Gupta has said.
Kerala's love for technology and innovation is behind the great acceptance for MG models in the state, he told 'Manorama'. There are 15 MG touch points in the state, he added.
About 75% of bookings for the recently launched premium SUV Gloster are for its highest version. That is the case in Kerala, too, he said.
Hector, Hector Plus and ZS electric SUV have reported excellent sales in the state. Another SUV will hit the market before next July. With this, the company would have implemented the projects it had announced earlier in India.
MG will be an auto tech company offering products based on the concepts of ‘connected, autonomous, shared and electric’.
All MG vehicles in India have high levels of internet connectivity. Gloster is off to a great start in the autonomous arena. Gloster now has a Level-1 autonomous system. This will rise to level-2 in future. Gaurav Gupta said that MG has been working with various companies to implement various models for shared transport.
Gloster and the electric SUV ZS are assembled at the Halol plant, which builds Hector. This is a state-of-the-art plant with large scale automation.
In the field of electric vehicles, MG’s operations are not limited to vehicle launches alone. It is also at the forefront in setting up the charging infrastructure all across the country.
It has set up high-speed DC charging systems in cities including Kochi in association with Tata Power. This partnership will be further expanded. This is a system that can charge electric car of any company.
Gaurav also said that the company is targeting battery production, among other activities, in India.
It is implementing a developer project that will provide a grant of up to Rs 25 lakh for startups aimed at developing in India the vehicle technologies mentioned above.
Gaurav Gupta said MG Motor India was the first company to partner with IIT to develop technology.
Since its inception, the company has also been running a social welfare scheme in the country to ensure education for girls, he said.
