MG Motor India looks to expand network in tier III, IV to drive next phase of growth

NEW DELHI: MG Motor India is driving towards tier III and IV cities of the country with plans to establish 100 new touchpoints by the end of the ongoing fiscal year as part of its strategy to fuel the next phase of growth, a senior company official said on Wednesday.

With JSW Group coming in as an investor and becoming a joint venture partner with China's SAIC, last month the company announced plans to invest Rs 5,000 crore and had set a target of selling one million units of passenger electric vehicles in India by 2030 when the total market is expected to be 10 million units annually.

The company is targeting 520 sales and service touchpoints overall in 270 cities by the end of 2024-25.

"There is a very clear roadmap...we have put in place which we are calling as MG 2.0, the next phase of growth for MG Motor India," MG Motor India Chief Commercial Officer Satinder Singh Bajwa told PTI.

As part of that, the company has set plans for enhancing production capacity and more model introduction going forward, he added. Bajwa further said to supplement these plans the company also has to improve its footprints in the Indian market to be closer to the consumers for the brand to gain their confidence and trust.

"So keeping that objective in mind, we are now looking at how we can improve our reach and depth in terms of our network as a first step," he said. Currently, Bajwa said, "We have about 380 touchpoints, which cover about 170 odd cities. Now we are very clear that we have to go closer to 300 cities going forward as part of our expansion plan and these 380 touchpoints obviously, will go beyond 500 touchpoints in this financial year."

Apart from existing dealers, the company will also onboard new partners for the network expansion, he said. In terms of geography, he said, "While we are fairly well represented, in tier one, metro and super metro towns but beyond that in tier three or four towns, presence is missing. That's the area where we want to really focus on and move forward in those areas and get closer to the customers."

The company is working towards introducing "tailored" showrooms, particularly for rural, Tier III and Tier III cities, he said, adding that these would sell vehicles of different technologies, including electric, hybrid and conventional engines, to cater to the requirements of different customers.

As part of MG 2.0, the company is increasing its annual production capacity from the current over 1 lakh units to up to 3 lakh vehicles. It will be setting up a second manufacturing unit at Halol in Gujarat.

The company plans to launch one new car every three to six months starting from September this year.