MG ZS electric SUV unveiled; comes with air purifier, runs 340 km fully charged

MG Motor India has unveiled its second product, the ZS EV, in India after the popular introduction of Hector in July this year. The electric sports utility vehicle is based on the same spec as the MG GS model that is sold in the global market. The iconic British brand, now owned by Chinese giant SAIC Motor Corp, showed off its ZS model Thursday in New Delhi.

The vehicle can go as far as 340 kilometres on a single charge, the company claims. The vehicle will compete against the likes of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Kona, the only other brand with an electric SUV in India.

The ZS comes with a sky roof and an inbuilt air purifier. The company will start ZS sell with only five cities -- Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Bangalore.

The ZS model would be produced at the company's manufacturing facility at Halol, Gujarat. The expected price of MG ZS will be around ₹25 lakh.

SAIC will be up against Hyundai, which launched its Kona electric SUV earlier this year, as well as Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the local unit of Suzuki Motor Corp. Together, they control two-thirds of the market where 3.4 million passenger vehicles were sold in the year through March. In contrast, barely more than 8,000 EVs were sold locally during the past six years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Over the past few months, MG Motor India has worked towards creating the right ecosystem for the EV vehicle prior of the launch of the ZS EV, including charging infrastructure. MG Motor India partnered with battery life-cycle management firm Umicore for recycling end-of-life batteries of its upcoming electric SUV ZS EV.

With inputs from Bloomberg