To “crack the difficult” Indian auto market, British carmaker MG Motor, which is now owned by China’s SAIC Motor, is betting on disruptive technology, besides a series of new product launches, a senior company official said.
“We know our job is tough. It is not easy to crack the Indian market…most of the western players have been unable to do that... We were clear that to be successful here, we need to do things in a different way which is meaningful, including technology innovation, community-connect and diversity,” said Rajeev Chaba, president and MD, MG Motor India.
He added, “Coming to the cars, we need to do things in a very disruptive way. This is one part where we feel we can achieve leadership…We have international collaborators and partners to offer something very different [connected cars] in the Indian market. A lot of players and OEMs are working on it…we will probably hasten up,” there announcements, which is good for the customers,” he added.
MG on Tuesday also showcased its ‘iSMART Next Gen’ solution, developed in partnership with global technology players, including Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe and SAP, to make its SUV “the first Internet car” in India.
Mr. Chaba said the firm plans to launch a total of four products in the next two years in the Indian market, including an electric vehicle that will be introduced by the end of the current year. He added that Hector—which will be the first to be launched in June — will also come in a 48-volt hybrid version, besides the internal combustion engine (ICE) version.
iSMART Next Gen in Hector would come with an embedded SIMsim that would ensure that the car remained connected. This would enable users to receive real-time software, entertainment content and application updates. “Customers will be able to download the software updates immediately or schedule them for later, as in smartphones. This makes MG the first few among the global leaders and the first in India to bring the Over The Air (OTA) technology to cars. The OTA feature would be standard in all MG cars enabled with iSMART Next Gen for connected mobility, starting with MG Hector SUV,” Mr. Chaba said.
The MG Hector would also come with Voice Assist, which had been designed specifically for Indian accent learning. The voice assist would allow over 100 commands, including opening and closing of windows and sunroof, AC control, navigation etc. and work even under poor connectivity.
Asked about sales target, he said, “I am very clear that [in the] initial years we will focus on building good foundation — customer experience, good dealers and employee satisfaction… I do not want to be loaded with a sales target.” Mr Chaba said that the company wanted to change the certain things in the Indian auto industry. To start with, the company would give out retail sales numbers — cars sold by dealers to customers as opposed to the current industry practice of giving out wholesale sales numbers.