MG Hector sold out for 2019, bookings to temporarily shut from midnight

Less than a month since its price reveal, Morris Garages India (MG) on Thursday announced that the MG Hector SUV was sold out for 2019 because the company had received more than 21,000 bookings since its launch.

For the time being]bookings would close at midnight on July 19. Further, the carmaker was working on increasing production at its plant in Gujarat. 

Morris Garages India had opened bookings for the Hector on June 4, and the company received more than 10,000 bookings till June 27 -- the day that the Hector's price was announced.

On June 27, Morris Garages, which is a British automobile manufacturer, launched the MG Hector SUV, its first vehicle in the Indian market, priced between Rs 12.18 lakh and Rs 16.88 lakh.

MG Motor India President and Managing Director Rajeev Chaba said that the Hector had received an "overwhelming response" and that the company was unable to cater to "such high initial demand". 

Therefore, said Chaba, the company was closing bookings temporarily because this would help ensure the "timely and orderly deliveries for our customers who have shown tremendous confidence in MG". 

Chaba added that the company was also working with its component suppliers to ramp up production in a gradual manner without compromising quality. 

Currently,  MG intends to gradually increase the Hector's production to 3,000 units per month by October 2019. The company has also said that the date of the re-opening of bookings would be announced soon. 

The report added that the company has said that the petrol versions accounted for over 50 per cent of the Hector's sales, adding that the variants most in demand were the top two trim levels -- Smart and Sharp.

The car, which is aimed at the premium SUV segment, comes with a host of segment-first features.

It comes loaded with a segment-first 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system, which can be controlled by touch or voice assist. The AI-powered voice assistant has been designed to understand Indian accents better and it utilises artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve its understanding with time. 

The car also comes pre-loaded with a number of apps, including TomTom's real-time navigation application, a customised Gaana app for music streaming and an AccuWeather app for weather forecast. 

Described as the 'internet car' or connected car, Hector also comes with an onboard connection that can provide wireless internet services to other devices inside the car. The company has partnered with Airtel and the car will come embedded with an Airtel SIM card, which will provide internet connectivity via 5G-ready IPv6 internet protocol.