Electric car market to grow by 30% in 2024 – says Rajeev Chaba of JSW MG Motor India

Amid talks of slowing EV adoption, Rajeev Chaba, the CEO Emeritus of JSW MG Motor India expects the electric vehicle market to maintain its double-digit growth momentum in 2024.

He expects the market to breach the 1 lakh mark for the first time and touch 1.2 lakh units at the end of the calendar year.

JSW MG Motor India, the second-largest electric vehicle maker in the country, has witnessed solid growth of over 30% quarter-on-quarter, in a market that appears to be slowing down.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Chaba reminded that the electric vehicle market has been consistently hitting new peaks every year for the last half a decade, and this year, too, on a decent basis, the market is likely to grow by 30%.

“In the first five months, 45,000 EVs have been sold, which is approximately 17-18% growth. With the new launches this year. So, from 93,000 to 1,20,000, a decent 30% growth. So, now it is not as high as last year's 50-60% growth, but if the overall industry is going to grow by 7-8%, the EV market will grow by 30%, which is not bad,” added Chaba.

In the six months of this calendar year, JSW MG Motor India has sold about 26,000 cars, with electric vehicles accounting for almost 40% of its total sales. The company's EV sales in 2024 have already breached the 10,000 units mark. The Comet hatchback EV is inching towards the 1000 units a month mark, whereas its premium ZS EV sales have been consistently crossing more than 750 to 800 units over the last quarter.

With the addition of the Cloud EV – the crossover utility vehicle EV scheduled for a September – October launch, the company is confident of having a significant share of about 40% of its total sales from zero-emission vehicles.

Chaba says that with the Comet, the company was catering to the sub-Rs 10 lakh market, and its first EV, the ZS EV, predominantly addresses the Rs 20 lakh to Rs 30 lakh segment.

“With the addition of our new launch (which will be positioned in Rs 10 lakh to 20 lakh segment) and other products in the market, we expect the electric vehicle sales momentum to continue in the coming years,” he added.