JSW MG Motor India Cashing In on Higher Demand for EVs After West Asia War: MD Anurag Mehrotra

 With the West Asia war accelerating demand for new electric vehicles, JSW MG Motor India is cashing in on the opportunity and expects to end the year with new energy vehicles contributing up to 80% of its overall sales this year, its MD Anurag Mehrotra said on Thursday.

The company, which unveiled its ADAPT (Advance Drive Architecture Platform Technology) -- a platform for multiple new energy vehicles (NEVs) -- will soon launch an electric vehicle, based on the platform, followed by a plug-in hybrid later this year, Mehrotra told PTI in an interview.

"After March, once the West Asia crisis hit, we are actually seeing a better traction on NEVs, and that is clearly visible by the penetration going up," he said, when asked about the impact on vehicle demand due to fuel price hikes after the West Asia war broke out.

The passenger vehicle industry EV penetration was only 3.8% in January and in June, it was over 8%, Mehrotra noted.

"So it tells you that consumers are coming to the stores and they are wanting to make the choices which are more leaning towards NEVs, and that is true for all of us (automakers)," he said.

If JSW MG Motor India is cashing in on the opportunity, Mehrotra said, "Absolutely. It is reflected in our numbers and our growth. We are running full (production) capacity in three shifts." So far this year, he said the company has sold close to about 40,000 units overall, growing about 12-13% year-on-year.

On how the company is looking at the NEVs penetration level for this year considering two new models are also to be launched, Mehrotra said, "I would expect it to be in the range of 70-80%." The company had a similar penetration level last year, he said, adding, "Even in our five-year plan, we are envisioning NEVs to be about 75% of our volume".

Sharing how the company is increasing production to cater to the rising demand, Mehrotra said the first phase of capacity expansion at the company's Halol plant will be completed in March next year, taking the annual capacity to 1.6 lakh units from 1.2 lakh units.

"Then we will begin work for the next phase, which will take us to about 3 lakh units," he added.

Mehrotra further said, "Given the growth that we are seeing today, we have already increased our headcount by almost 40% at the plant to cater to the third shift that got added." This year, the company has earmarked capex of Rs 1,400 crore as part of its overall investment of around Rs 4,000 crore announced earlier for product development, product localisation and capacity expansion.

Commenting on the ADAPT platform, Mehrotra said it supports EVs, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and range extender electric vehicles (REEVs), thereby bringing multiple energy solutions together on a single intelligent platform.

"Instead of having multiple platforms to cater to multiple consumers, having a single platform makes it that much more capex-efficient," he said.

Moreover, with a single platform which allows for multiple power trains, localisation levels can be driven to a far higher level as "the volumes will justify the localisation efforts