MG Group Future of Mobility

How do you plan to establish a new car brand in a market like India where you have established players?.

Despite the revolution that they are heralding in the automotive space, I don’t feel that the advent of internet cars in India – from the end-user’s perspective, at least – is about drastic changes at all. In fact, I feel the entire point of connected mobility is the added seamlessness, comfort, and convenience that cutting-edge technology can deliver to enhance the in-car driving experience for customers.

As far as establishing MG Motor in the Indian market goes, we already have a long and illustrious history in the country as a marquee British carmaker. What we are doing right now is building on this legacy by using technology as our key differentiator. Since our relaunch in India in 2017, technological innovation has been one of the key areas of focus in our quest to become the automotive brand of the future.

MG Hector, for instance, comes equipped with 50+ innovative tech features, including 19 exclusive features that haven’t been seen before in the Indian market. We have also partnered with Adobe for its entire suite of Adobe Experience Cloud solutions, becoming the first automotive player in India to do so. Through this digital integration, we are facilitating a seamless, endto- end customer journey across all touchpoints – including the revamped MG brand website, dealer websites, and digital screens – and amplifying our customer outreach.

On the production front, we have invested more than INR 2,200 crore in our Halol manufacturing unit to set up a brand-new assembly line, press shop, body shop, and parts distribution centre, as well as a testing track and a state-of-the-art training facility. We have also set up a captive vendor park at the facility with a view of introducing deeper localisation for our existing and upcoming India-centric products, including the Hector.

Although we are always open to various business opportunities, we do not intend to create such revenue streams at present. We are currently focused on providing the best experience to our customers in India.

What are the unique factors incorporated in this car which will redefine industry standards on safety?

The iSMART technology has been developed by Unlimit in partnership with Cisco on its Jasper platform with Airtel as the telecom partner. This IoTbased connectivity solution acts as the Hector’s centralised hub for all smart operations and automatically switches between available networks to facilitate seamless connectivity at all times.

This, combined with the ‘IQ Maps’, ensures that MG customers are never lost, regardless of where they are. The iSMART mobile app also comes equipped with a geo-fencing feature that allows customers to define an area beyond which the vehicle cannot be moved without the owner’s authorisation.

We have also factored in the growing risk posed by cyber threats and introduced measures to ensure that MG customers are delivered best-in-class privacy and security while enjoying the most connected in-car experience. To achieve this, we host all communications and applications on Microsoft’s Azure Cloud platform – a domain-leading presence in the global secure cloud and data management space.

No car is complete without features that ensure the physical safety of its passengers. This is why we have integrated innovative E-call and I-call capabilities into the Hector. The E-call feature is triggered any time safety airbags are deployed and automatically sends out the customer’s location to MG 24/7 Pulse Hub to initiate the necessary emergency action. The I-call feature is more like an on-demand personal assistant within the car and can be used by MG customers to connect with the MG Pulse Hub to get anytime, anywhere assistance about anything.