JSW MG Motor India expects 80 per cent sales from new energy vehicles after US-Iran war

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 per cent of its overall sales this year its MD Anurag Mehrotra said on ThursdayThe 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 plugin hybrid later this year Mehrotra told PTI in an interviewAfter 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 outThe passenger vehicle industry EV penetration was only 38 per cent in January and in June it was over 8 per cent Mehrotra notedSo 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 saidIf 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 shiftsSo far this year he said the company has sold close to about 40000 units overall growing about 1213 per cent yearonyearOn 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 7080 per centThe company had a similar penetration level last year he said adding Even in our fiveyear plan we are envisioning NEVs to be about 75 per cent of our volumeSharing how the company is increasing production to cater to the rising demand Mehrotra said the first phase of capacity expansion at the companys Halol plant will be completed in March next year taking the annual capacity to 16 lakh units from 12 lakh unitsThen we will begin work for the next phase which will take us to about 3 lakh units he addedMehrotra further said Given the growth that we are seeing today we have already increased our headcount by almost 40 per cent at the plant to cater to the third shift that got addedThis year the company has earmarked capex of Rs 1400 crore as part of its overall investment of around Rs 4000 crore announced earlier for product development product localisation and capacity expansionCommenting on the ADAPT platform Mehrotra said it supports EVs hybrid electric vehicles HEVs plugin hybrid electric vehicles PHEVs and range extender electric vehicles REEVs thereby bringing multiple energy solutions together on a single intelligent platformInstead of having multiple platforms to cater to multiple consumers having a single platform makes it that much more capexefficient he saidMoreover 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 effortsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever