JSW MG Motor expects 250% EV sales growth in 2024, says Rajeev Chaba

JSW MG Motor expects the sales of its electric vehicles (EVs) to grow by about 250 per cent in 2024 due to new launches and strong demand, its CEO Emeritus Rajeev Chaba said on Tuesday.

While JSW MG Motor remains optimistic, electric car sales in India have declined over the past three months. According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), July saw 7,541 electric cars sold in India, a 2.92 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) decrease. In June, sales dropped by 13.51 per cent Y-o-Y to 6,894 units. May recorded a 1.24 per cent Y-o-Y decline with 7,638 units sold.

“If you look at the sales data for the last 5-6 months, and as some of you have reported, the EV sales are going down. I am happy to say that our EV sales are going up,” Chaba told reporters after launching multiple EV initiatives here, including an app called “eHUB” that has about 70 per cent of all 12,000 fast DC chargers across India on its system.

The company currently sells five models in India — Hector, Gloster, Astor, Comet and ZS. The first three are internal combustion engine-run cars, while the last two are electric cars.

“Last year, our growth in electric car sales was about 150 per cent. This year, we would grow by almost 250 per cent. So, our EV sales are growing because they (ZS and Comet) are very compelling and trustworthy EV solutions for people," he stated. 

According to FADA, JSW MG Motor sold 9,078 electric cars in India in 2023, recording an exact growth of 165.3 per cent Y-o-Y. Tata Motors is the leading player in the Indian electric car market, holding about 63.3 per cent share in July. JSW Motor holds the second position with about 20.2 per cent share in this market.

Along with eHub, Chaba on Tuesday launched ‘Project Revive’, a programme to repurpose used electric car batteries, and ‘Evpedia’, an education platform for electric cars. Chaba had last month told reporters that JSW MG Motor would be launching a total of 5 cars in India in the next 12 months, even as it is in the process of increasing its production capacity from 100,000 units to 300,000 units per annum.

He clarified that the first of the five products would be an electric crossover utility vehicle called Windsor. It is expected to be launched in September or October this year.

“In India, we are launching MG Windsor. This is an intelligent crossover utility vehicle. The USP of this car is it would give you functionality of an SUV and inside space of a sedan. This is going to be an EV. For more details, just wait for a few more weeks,” he stated.

There has been speculation in the automobile sector that Cloud — a model that MG sells in other countries — is being brought to India as Windsor.

When asked if Cloud has been renamed as Windsor for the Indian market, he replied, “It is not exactly the same vehicle. We have done lots of changes in the car. So, in India, we would be launching Windsor.” In terms of pricing, Windsor would be placed somewhere between Comet and ZS EV.

Chaba said eHub has been launched to reduce the anxiety of electric car owners who had to deal with multiple apps and incomplete information. eHub would provide all information related to availability of charging point, rate of charging, booking facility, payment facility, type of charger, and whether the charger is working or not.