MG Motor India begins production of Hector SUV

MG (Morris Garages) Motor India today rolled out the first production version of Hector from its Halol facility in Gujarat. The Hector SUV is MG Motor's first car in India, and has gone into commercial production after 1 million kilometres of testing in diverse road and climatic conditions across the country. 

The company says it has undertaken extensive localisation, with more than 300+ India specific changes have been carried out in the MG Hector to suit the customer preferences and road conditions.

The carmaker will begin shipments of the Hector SUV within the next few weeks to its network of 65 showrooms across 50 cities. And the SUV will make its global debut on May 15, 2019 and pre-orders is slated to begin in June.

Rajeev Chaba, president and MD, MG Motor India, said: “We are proud to be rolling out the first made in India, feature-rich internet car, the MG Hector, from our all-new assembly line in Gujarat. Adopting the highest quality global manufacturing standards, the Hector has been specially customised to suit Indian customer preferences and road conditions. The MG Hector is poised to become a new benchmark in SUVs.”

Till now MG Motor India has invested Rs 2,200 crore in its Gujarat manufacturing plant. The company has set up new assembly line, new press shop, new body shop, new parts distribution centre, testing track and a state-of-the-art training facility in the plant, within a span of 18 months. At present, the Halol plant has a production capacity of 80,000 units per annum, which can be increased going forward depending upon the requirement. The carmaker had also set up a captive vendor park at its plant.

The carmaker’s technologically advanced plant in Gujarat deploys advanced robotic spot welding, robotic roller hemming and robotic brazing facilities to achieve superior weld quality and dimensional consistency. The paint shop uses robotic application at all stages of coating to achieve superior paint finish quality and colour harmony. The new assembly line operates with the help of advanced Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) for various assembly processes.  MG Motor India claims, that it is the first carmaker in the industry to make touchscreen pads available at each assembly work station, enabling MG employees to connect and alert the system centrally to avoid errors, following the 'first time right build' philosophy.