British carmaker MG (Morris Garages) Motor finally unveiled its first first offering for the Indian carbuyer – The Hector. Also touted as India’s first internet car with over 50 connected features, it will be the first ‘mildly hybrid’ model car in the market. The company has introduced 19 exclusive features that makes it the new benchmark in its segment.
MG (Morris Garages) has showcased their car technology in India with launch iSMART Next Gen, developed in partnership with the global technology players Microsoft, Adobe, Unlimit, SAP, Cisco, Gaana, TomTom and Nuance. MG Motor, which is owned by Chinese auto giant SAIC India, has invested Rs 2,200 crore so far to rebuild the Halol manufacturing facility which is manufacturing the Hector and currently the MG Halol production is 80,000 units per annum.
Also Read:- MG Hector : An Intelligent SUV For First Time Buyer
MG Motor in India will begin shipments of the MG Hector SUV cars within the next few weeks of the year to spread the wide network of 120 outlets across 50 cities in India. Moreover the carmaker aims MG Hector cars to expand its network to 250 outlets by the end of September this year and the pre-booking the launch of the car and the power and torque output of Hector and Compass are same, at about 171 PS and 350 Nm, while that Harrier has been reduced to 140 PS and 350 Nm. The new SUV is set to take on rivals like the Tata Harrier and the Jeep Compass.
MG Motor’s new iSMART technology features more than 50 connected features including always on internet connectivity enabled by e-SIM. Alongside the biggest HD touchscreen in its segment at 10.4 inches.Apart from being the first internet car in India and also be the first car with sophisticated 48-volt mild-hybrid architecture in its segment.The iSMART Next Gen, with this, MG Motor becomes the first mainstream carmaker in India to bring 48V technology to the mass market segment. As the MG Hector is India’s first internet car and it is capable SUV as well and it is preloaded with entertainment content.
MG says that the head unit has been built to withstand extreme climatic conditions in India and which also becomes the first mainstream carmaker in India to bring 48V technology to the mass market segment. MG says that the Head unit has been built to withstand extreme climatic conditions in India and which has been built with a high level of localization and comes power packed with features, and internet enabled cars available that allows driver to control the entire car system with touch and voice command which are said by the president and managing director Rajeev Chaba of MG Hector Motor of India.
The MG Hector which comes with a voice application with voice assist, that works on the cloud and head unit which is developed by Nuance for MG India. It has been specially designed for India for Indian accent learning. MG Motor says that the system will learn and get better every day with usage and it is built in artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine learning (ML) algorithms, which is activated with ‘Hello MG’ voice assist which allows over 100 commands, including opening and closing of windows and sunroof, ac control, navigation etc. and as it also works under poor connectivity as well.
The MG Hector will also house the world leader Tom Tom’s real time navigation application system. Tom Tom has over 600 million vehicles under its platform. All apps have specially customized for MG Hector’s large Head Unit and the navigation system which would regularly update maps, routes and locations through their IQ Maps feature.
The i Smart mobile app which supports starters, gets scanned each time the app is opened and information includes the location of the car, tyre pressure or if they are locked or not. It would also allow owners to schedule a service and keep track of service history and moreover owners will be able to use the remote app to directly lock and unlock the doors, turn on ignition and switch on the air-conditioner.
MG with iSMART has also said that they want to ensure that its customers remain safe against the advanced threats while enjoying the benefits of the technology of MG Hector. The App uses driver analytics data to help people drive smarter and the owner can locate their cars remotely and geofence it, so the car cannot be taken out of a predefined zone and iSMART is hosted on Microsoft Azure Cloud providing impregnable cyber security for all data.
As on the side the engine, the three SUVs are powered by the same Fiat sourced 2.0 Litre diesel engine mated to a speed of 6-speed manual transmission. About 171 PS and 350 Nm, while that Harrier has been reduced to 140 PS and 350 Nm. Fuel efficiency of the diesel variant of the three vehicles at around 17 km per litre.
The Hector SUV is powered by petrol engine and are offered in two variants in the Hector, from that one of which comes with a 48V battery-powered hybrid system and power output of the engine remains the same for both variants of the Hector with the 1.5 litre petrol engine (143 PS), but the torque in the hybrid unit is 20 Nm which is more than that of the non-hybrid version of the Hector. The2.0-litre diesel engine provides 170PS of power 350Nm of torque. The other option is Compass petrol model comes with a 1.4 litre engine that produces 160 PS and 243 Nm.
Coming to the boot space the MG Hector is bigger than its rivals which offer the large boot space where as the Tata Harrier stands second in terms of the wheelbase and length, while the jeep compass is the smallest. All the three come loaded, boasting six airbags in their top variants.
As comparing for the price, the Tata Harrier starts at cost of Rs 12.7 lakh and goes up to cost of Rs 16.25 lakh, the Jeep Compass ranges from cost of Rs 15.60 lakh to cost of Rs 23.11 lakh and the now coming to the MG Hector which is expected be priced between cost of Rs 16 lakh to `21 lakh.
If this wasn’t enough, the MG motors has also made an set up for customers as the customer management service centre called the Pulse Hub and this will enable e Call emergency response in all MG cars. In this Hector car’s airbags are deployed under an emergency condition and also the automatic messages are sent to the Pulse Hub and the registered phones numbers along with the series of emergency response actions that get activated instantly. The more advantageous feature of MG hector which also offers a feature called ‘i Call’ by which Owners can activate this with just a touch on the screen by which it allows the driver to be connected to the Pulse Hub under any emergency.
Within the next few weeks to its widespread network of 120 outlets across 50 cities in India will begin shipments of the Hector by MG Motor India. Moreover the car maker aims to expand its network to 250 outlets by the end of this 2019 year.