New Delhi:
Morris Garages (MG Motor) marked its debut in the Indian market with the launch of Hector SUV in July 2019. MG Hector is one of the first connected SUVs to be launched in India. Amidst slump in India’s auto sector, MG Hector managed to receive tremendous customer demand. MG Motor had bagged over 28,000 bookings for the Hector and had to stop accepting bookings, owing to an inability to cater to a high initial demand. However, the automaker is planning to resume bookings in October.
In an exclusive interview to NDTV’s carandbike, Rajeev Chaba, President & MD- MG Motor India said, "We cannot and don't want to reopen the bookings till the time we have a clear idea of deliveries. So first we want to take care of our existing customers who have already booked and then we want to resume bookings. So my guess is within October we should reopen the bookings."
"There are lot of walk-in that's been happening and is still happening as we speak and we have started adding them to our wait list without taking money. So whenever we would start, this wait list can be converted to bookings. So I am happy to say good problem to have that we have got 16,000 customers in our wait list now," he added.
Chaba further said, "So on a single shift basis we can do 3000 units and we are evaluating the possibility of a second shift which we can start from November. We are just looking at suppliers' capacity, in fact I've been meeting suppliers as well. Then we're also looking at some imports of the part and hiring of one more batch for the second shift."
"Because of other factors and other players and other players, the suppliers get impacted and if they are impacted, it impacts us indirectly. So I hope and I am confident that things will start improving for the industry. Probably we have seen the worst in August and from here onwards we start going up. So if the industry improves, it's good for suppliers and good for us as well," he concluded.
The prices of the Hector SUV starts at Rs 12.18 lakh (ex-showroom, India) going all the way up to Rs 16.88 lakh (ex-showroom, India). It will come in five colours - glaze red, burgundy red, starry black, aurora silver and candy white. The length and width of MG Hector is 4,655 mm and 1,835 mm respectively. The height and wheelbase of MG Hector are 1,760 mm and 2,750 mm respectively.
In terms of the engine, MG Hector comes with the option of both, petrol and diesel powertrains. There is a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine good for 141 bhp and 250 Nm of peak torque, with a standard 6-speed manual gearbox. You can have it with a 6-speed DCT (Double Clutch Transmission) also. Then there is a 2.0-litre turbocharged diesel motor producing 168 bhp and 350 Nm of peak torque. It is mated to a 6-speed manual transmission.
The Hector SUV also gets a segment first 48V Hybrid System with the petrol trim. Boasting of better fuel efficiency and lower emissions, this variant also gets a 6-speed manual gearbox. On the features front, MG Hector SUV comes with the front and rear fog lamps, LED DRLs and tail lamps, dual tone machined alloys and floating light turn indicators. There will be a 7-inch coloured MID and a 10.4-inch HD touchscreen AVN system. It also features the next-gen iSMART connectivity technology. The SUV further offers a premium cabin equipped with power adjustable seats, electronic parking brake, 360-degree camera and cruise control.
