The MG Windsor has reached a new milestone, with MG Motor India announcing today that it has produced 15,000 units of the EV at its Halol plant. The brand has also revealed that it receives approximately 200 bookings a day, and that just 15 percent of MG Windsor buyers have opted for the Battery as a Service (BaaS) scheme.
MG Windsor BaaS sales
MG Windsor buyers prefer to buy the EV outright than opt for battery rental scheme
Just 15 percent of Windsor buyers opting for the BaaS scheme indicates a clear preference to buy the model outright. The table below shows that with the recent hike in Windsor prices, there is a uniform Rs 4 lakh difference between the total ex-showroom price and how much those who opt for the battery rental scheme would pay upfront. However, it should be noted that there has been a corresponding increase in the cost of renting the battery as well, from Rs 3.5 to Rs 3.9 per kilometre.
Buyers could find MG BaaS scheme complicated
Among the reasons why buyers could be opting to buy the Windsor outright is that the BaaS scheme can seem complicated to understand. As our MG Windsor battery rental feature explained, BaaS is essentially a finance scheme backed by specific third-party financiers, and each have their own terms and conditions. Resale of an MG Windsor bought via the BaaS programme also becomes more complicated. The brand does offer a buyback scheme under its MG Shield plan, with buyers getting back up to 60 percent of the car's price, to alleviate some of the concerns regarding selling a used Windsor.
It should be noted that depending on one’s usage, the BaaS scheme may be beneficial to some as there are various packages for 3-year, 5-year and 8-year periods.
Top-spec MG Windsor Essence trim accounts for 80 percent of bookings
The EV comes in three variants – entry-level Windsor Excite, mid-spec Exclusive and top-spec Essence – and MG revealed that about 80 percent of bookings are for the top-spec.
Sales of the Windsor have been helping MG Motor India significantly, as the EV has accounted for 49 percent of the brand’s total sales just three months after launch. In fact, by the end of December, MG Windsor wholesales had crossed the 10,000 unit mark.
Demand for the MG Windsor has prompted plans to increase production capacity at the company’s plant in Halol, Gujarat. Biju Balendran, deputy MD, JSW MG Motor India, said that they are increasing the capacity to meet rising demand, and confirmed, “We are undertaking certain facility modifications to ensure readiness for MG Select products that are due for launch in the first half of this year. Hence, we anticipate a production slowdown during the month of February, which may temporarily affect our wholesales during this period.”
The company will soon announce prices for the first MG Select model, the Cyberster, and then launch the M9 MPV by March.
All prices, ex-showroom, India
