JSW MG Motor India will launch five new vehicles in the next one year. The first product launch will be in the form of a premium crossover vehicle (CUV) in September and the company is expanding its manufacturing plant in Halol (Gujarat) to three-lakh units per annum from one-lakh per year right now, a top official has said.

“We have five new products approved (from headquarters in China) to be launched in next one year. Out of these, two will be premium products, and the first product starts a few months from now in the festive period and it’s a cross over (CUV) -- comfort of a sedan but utility of a sport utility vehicle (SUV),” Rajeev Chaba, Chief Executive Officer Emeritus at MG Motor India, said.

He said that the passenger vehicle market that has slowed down in the first quarter of this year, would see better growth in the coming quarters with festive season starting next month and new launches planned by the original equipment manufacturers (OMEs).

However, Chaba also cautioned the high inventory levels at dealers and the containers prices still high because of the Red Sea crisis.

There is a bloodbath for dealers right now. But, MG’s dealer inventory is 35-40 days, which is lower than the industry average of around 60-65 days. We will further reduce our inventory to under 30 days and re-energize the dealer network, also because we have to expand our dealer network to attract demand for the new products we are launching,” he said.

On expansion of networks, he said the company is putting 200 more touchpoints to reach up to 600 in the next two-three years, apart from increasing the capacity at its plants.

“As we speak, we are putting up our second plant in Halol, and are going to increase our capacity to three-lakh cars a year. And when you have three-lakh units in capacity, you need to have the products to fill the plant. So that’s our plan, in the next three-five years,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chaba also said that the current GST rate structure of passenger vehicles in India is outdated and needs to be aligned with the new developments in the auto industry, especially with new-age vehicles with different kind of fuel options.

“Earlier, we said the size of the car was sub-four meters. We said 1.2-litre engine, 1.5-litre engine based on that we had a lot of GST structure. I think gone are those days...Can we revolutionise the whole policymaking? Can we start from what’s important to the country and the consumer?,” Chaba noted.

Talking about the demand for incentives on hybrid vehicles, Chaba said it should be given only on strong plug-in hybrids which can also run as an independent battery electric vehicle, and not on those vehicles in which battery is used only for improving fuel efficiency.

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