Chinese-owned heritage British brand MG, short for Morris Garages began its journey in India with the Hector SUV. The brand now has a total of four SUVs in the portfolio which includes the Hector Plus 6-seater, the MG Gloster premium SUV and the MG ZS EV 100% electric SUV. The brand has also announced that a 7-seater version of the MG Hector Plus will go on sale from January 2021 and another small SUV, more likely to be a compact SUV is on the cards for a later date in 2021.
The compact SUV is speculated to be the MG ZS Petrol which is an internal combustion engine iteration of the MG ZS EV. Earlier the compact SUV was slated to be introduced in the Q2 of 2021 but the brand’s President and Managing Director has confirmed that the launch of the small-sized SUV will be delayed to Q3 of 2021. The reason for the delay could be due to the lockdown associated with COVID-19 pandemic which disrupted the supply chain and affected manufacturing during the peak outbreak of the pandemic.
After the manufacturing resumption and easing of lockdown rules, the sales figures have started to come back to the pre-COVID era. In some cases, the sales figures are even better than what OEMs were selling before the lockdown. This could be the pent-up demand and purchase during the festive season, the brand now expects that the demand will grow. MG is even planning to invest INR 1000 Crore to expand the operations at their Halol plant with hopes of growth.
The MG ZS Petrol has also been spotted testing not too far from the Halol plant in Gujarat, and the brand could be waiting for its final validation process. The brand is also expected to start the production of the MG ZS Petrol soon. Under the hood, the car is expected to come with a 1.5-litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine with 106 PS of power and 141 Nm of torque. Alternatively, a 1.0-litre three-cylinder gasoline direct-injection engine that makes 111 PS of power and 160 Nm of torque could also be offered.