JSW-MG Motor JV to launch ‘new energy’ vehicles from Sep
NEW DELHI: A new automobile
joint venture of the JSW Group and MG Motor India will introduce “new energy”
vehicle every three to four months beginning September, a top executive said,
rolling out top end” cars that India has not seen.”
The JV partners have agreed to invest $750 million (about 5000
crore) to produce 300,000 units a year, make more parts locally, and bring in
technology for new products.
JSW will hold 35% stake in the new company which will be called JSW
MG Motor India Pvt. Ltd. Financial investor Everstone, a few dealers, and
employees wil hold round 16% taking the shareholding of Indian investors in the
JV to 51%. The investment in the JV is expected to go up to $5 billion by 2030,
said JSW officials.
“We will bring one newly designed new energy vehicle every
three-four months from September onwards. These will be state of the art cars
that India has not seen, “ said Sajjan Jindal, chairman of JSW Group. “We will
also export them to the most advanced international markets. That’s why dream
and we’re working on that.” The JV will sell vehicles under the MG brand name,
said Rajeev Chaba, chairman emeritus, MG Motor India. The joint venture gives
MG Motor, a London head quartered company owned by Chinese state-owned
automaker SAIC Motor, an Indian identity and much needed firepower to expand in
the country.
“The company will also start a premium channel for high-end
vehicles in India, Chaba said.
The Union government last week said it would allow automakers to
import up to 8000 EVs $35000 or higher every year at a reduced import duty of
15%, from 70% earlier, if they commit to investing at least $500 million in
India over the next three years to make parts locally.
“We have to study the policy fineprint,” said Parth Jindal,
managing director, JSW director, JSW Cement and JSW Paints, and member of
steering committee, JSW MG Motor India. “It looks very attractive for the
premium segment, but because we have other applications in place-some have already
been applied to by MG Motors and JSW has applied to by MG Motors, and JSW has
applied for the government’s production-linked incentive scheme) on the battery
side. So we’ll have to see if those get impacted at all by the new policy,”
Parth Jindal said.
According to Sajjan Jindal, the JV will look to introduce plug-in
hybrids that will have batteries with a range of 150 km to expand the new
energy vehicle market till EV charging infrastructure fully develops in India.
The JSW-MG Motor JV estimates India’s passenger vehicle market to
reach 10 million units by 2030 with EV adoption following the same path as it
did in China. India’s EV penetration currently stands at 2% of all passenger
vehicle sales, whereas in China, 32% of all vehicles sold last year were EVs or
hybrids.
“Our aim is to have a 33% EV market share by 2030 and sell 1
million EVs by the end of the decade, “ Sajjan Jindal said, “Technology from
SAIC, and the manufacturing prowess from the JSW group will make it an
unmatchable team. My dream is to create a Maruti moment for new energy
vehicles.”
Global EV sales have seen a lull so far in 2024. EV sales in
January dropped 26% from December. However, sales of electric cars have been on
a yearly upswing despite this slowdown. According to Chaba, demand for EVs
remains strong and the slowdown only reflects a gap between expectations and
projections for EV growth, versus a more realistic market scenario.
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