JSW MG Motor India on Wednesday launched the Windsor cross utility vehicle (CUV) as one of the newest entrants into the Indian car market aims to increase the share of electric vehicles (EVs) in its sales portfolio. Windsor is the first vehicle to be launched under the joint venture (JV) between India’s JSW Group and MG Motor India, the local unit of China’s biggest car company SAIC Motor.
JSW MG has priced the CUV at Rs 9.99 lakh as the company claims this would address the huge price gap between internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and EVs. However, there is a catch here - the battery is missing at this price point. The company has introduced a Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) plan wherein the consumer will have to pay Rs 3.5 per km as a rental for the battery.
Satinder Singh Bajwa, Chief Commercial Officer at JSW MG Motor India, said they would announce the ex-showroom prices of the Windsor (with fitted battery) on October 3 and deliveries would commence from October 12. “We are addressing the initial cost barrier of owning an EV…We are giving options to consumers as to how they would like to own the vehicle,” said Bajwa who is hopeful that Windsor can become the top selling vehicle for the company in the months to come.
JSW MG Motor India CEO Emeritus Rajeev Chaba said that with the launch of Windsor, EV sales in the company’s portfolio should exceed the 50% mark. At present, EVs account for 35% of the company's total sales.
“We have five cars right now and Windsor is the sixth -- a total of three EVs and three ICE vehicles. In the first seven months of this year, our EV sales volumes have grown 52%…With Windsor coming in, EV should be more than 50% of our sales,” added Chaba. He also said in the next 12 to 18 months, the localisation level of the CUV would be around 80%. Further, the company has also set a target to introduce a new car every four to six months.
Parth Jindal, Director, JSW MG Motor India, said the way their competitors are pricing EVs, they are trying to show the world that EVs are more expensive than ICE vehicles. “We want to bust this myth,” said Jindal.
He added that to increase EV penetration, they will have to play in the Rs 9-11 lakh price segment where maximum buying takes place. “We want to compete with cars costing around Rs 10 lakh…The only way of doing it is under the battery-as-a-service model,” stated Jindal.
The Windsor is powered by a 38 kWh Li-ion battery pack and has a range of 331 km under standard conditions on a single charge. It can be charged in 40 minutes at any DC fast charger. JSW MG Motor is also giving an assured 60% buyback offer after 3 years/45,000 km of usage.
The CUV would primarily compete against Tata Motor’s Nexon.ev which at the moment is being offered at a discount of up to Rs 3 lakh.