Kamal Ghorui
JSW MG Motor India is planning to drive in four new models this year, including a plug-in hybrid SUV, under its five-year plan to drive the next phase of growth, according to its Managing Director Anurag Mehrotra. The company, which has unveiled premium SUV ‘MAJESTOR’, will be hiking its production capacity to 3 lakh units annually from the current 1.2 lakh units, and increase localisation, besides bringing new models, entailing a total investment of up to Rs 5,000 crore, Mehrotra told PTI in an interview. “As we are preparing for the next phase, we have created a five-year plan. The five-year plan talks about growing volumes to about 3 lakh units,” he said. Mehrotra further said, “We are also looking to invest anywhere between Rs 4,000 crore and Rs 5,000 crore, which will be towards plant expansion. It will be on products, and it will be on driving localisation. These three would be essentially where our capex will go.” In terms of funding, he said the company is looking at various options, including internal accruals and external funding. On the timeline for increasing the annual capacity, he said, “It would typically take about 18 months to do the expansion.” The company’s Halol plant in Gujarat has a current annual capacity of 1.2 lakh units.
In 2024, JSW MG Motor India — a joint venture between China’s SAIC and Indian conglomerate JSW Group — had announced it would Rs 5,000 crore to enhance production capacity and launch one new car every 3-6 months. Asked about new products, he said, “This year alone, we are looking to bring about four products.” The first one is the MAJESTOR, which is expected to hit the market in April-May this year and will compete with the likes of Toyota Fortuner. “Then subsequently we will get three more products this calendar year itself,” Mehrotra said, adding, “the remaining three products outside of the MAJESTOR will be all new energy vehicles, and one of them would be a plug-in hybrid”. Mehrotra further said, “All the four products we are talking about would be SUVs.” Three products would be in the MG channel, and one would be for premium chain ‘MG Select’, he added. On the sales outlook, Mehrotra said the company is looking at an overall passenger vehicle industry growth in ‘double digits’ “especially after the GST rationalisation that has taken place and also the base effect of the first half of 2025 when the growth was very muted”. “A similar story would pan out on the EV side, where the penetration is expected to grow more significantly,” he said, adding that EV penetration is expected to rise to around 7-8 per cent in 2026, up from 4.5 per cent in 2025.
