JSW MG Motor Aims To Recreate ‘Maruti Moment’ With EV Overdrive

JSW Group aims to do what Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. did 40 years ago—this time with electric cars, according to its chairman.

“My dream with MG is that we will create a ‘Maruti moment’. In 1984, when Maruti came into India, it changed the auto industry (with small, affordable cars). We aim to do the same with MG,” JSW Group Chairman Sajjan Jindal said at an event in Mumbai on Wednesday.

JSW Group and MG Motor India Pvt. have formed a joint venture—JSW MG Motor India Pvt.—to make and sell electric vehicles in India. This alliance is separate from JSW’s plans to invest $5 billion in Odisha to set up an integrated EV complex in Cuttack and Paradip.

The JV aims to launch one new car every quarter or so, starting with an internal combustion car and an electric car this year, Parth Jindal, scion of the JSW Group and member of the steering committee of JSW MG Motor India, said at the event. The first plug-in hybrid from the MG stable will break cover in 2025.

JSW Group and MG Motor are the latest to join a slew of carmakers doubling down in the rapidly growing EV market in the world’s third largest automotive market—a rare bright spot as EVs experience a cooling market in China, the US and Europe. Still, only 82,481 electric cars were sold in India in 2023, achieving just 2% penetration.

The recently unveiled India EV policy, which paves the way for the likes of Tesla Inc. to enter the country, has JSW MG’s attention. While more clarity is awaited, the JV is evaluating the proposals to make the most of the incentives, the management said.

JSW Group will invest Rs 5,000 crore at the outset to step up production at MG Motor’s Halol facility in Gujarat and those planned in Odisha, from over 1,00,000 units now to 3,00,000 units annually. Localisation is at the heart of the manufacturing plans.

That, Jindal believes, will make JSW MG Motor India the country’s No. 1 EV maker by 2030.

JSW MG aims to sell one million electric vehicles by 2030, capturing one-third of the local EV market, even as the domestic four-wheeler industry expands to 10 million units from 4 million units at present.

“I have no doubt that JSW MG will make world leading products in India, for India and the world,” Parth Jindal said at the event. “MG India 1.0 has had a very good five years and it is now up to the joint venture to make MG 2.0 even more impactful and successful.”

The company plans to foray into the premium sales channels, a la Maruti Suzuki and its Nexa showrooms. The Cyberster, the 544 BHP electric roadster unveiled at the event in Mumbai on Wednesday, will be part of this line-up. Plans are also afoot to launch a plug-in hybrid even as Indians warm up to the idea of an electric car.

MG Motor, at present, retails two electric cars in India—the ZS EV and Comet EV. In May, the automaker said it was expecting to derive as much as three-quarters of its sales in India from electric cars by 2028. In the first two months of the year, the automaker has sold 8,100 vehicles—up 12.5% from the same period last year, according to data with the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association.