MG Motor was in the news recently with its MG 4 EV which was launched in the European market, and now it is again in the limelight as the British carmaker is gearing up to launch a compact EV in the Indian market. . The MG Air EV was spotted testing in Gujarat and is expected to be launched in mid-2023. The Micro EV will most likely debut at the Auto Expo in January 2023.
The MG Air EV is derived from the Wuling Honguang EV sold in China, but the proportions seem to have increased, and since the Wuling group owns MG, the EV is likely to be launched in India wearing the MG badge. . Externally, the purpose of the MG Air EV in the market becomes quite clear. The EV is small and has only 2 doors. From the side, the silhouette of the Air EV is like a cuboid with a chamfered edge, and the EV will serve as a city commuter with lower operating costs than a petrol two-wheeler. The smaller car also gets drag reducing wheel covers and a tall rear window that doesn’t seem to be retractable.
Up front, the Air EV gets an LED bar light that runs across the width and then wraps around the car to mate with the rear view mirrors, and it gets twin-pod LED headlamps at the bottom. The LED DRLs below the headlamps are placed in the fog lamp position, and can double as turn indicators. The EV has a small grille at the bottom, which can serve as a vent for cooling the battery pack. The EV also gets a charging socket under the logo, just like the first-gen MG ZS EV.
The interior of the car looks quite modern and has a dual-tone finish. The car is equipped with a twin 10.25-inch display, one for the infotainment and the other for the instrument cluster, and the layout is similar to the Hyundai IONIQ 5. Apart from the screen, the dash only has 3 rotary knobs that can be air-con controls, and has a very clean layout. The gear selector is also a rotary knob. It gets a 2-spoke steering wheel with multiple controls. Overall the cabin looks very clean but at the same time it is narrow. There are also only two seats in the back, and we’ll have to wait and see how spacious they are. From the images, it appears that the rear seat has been completely pushed back, and although this may free up some leg room, all seats are occupied, with no room for luggage Will be
The MG Air EV will reportedly come with two battery options, with an expected range of 200-300km. The EV will be powered by either a 30kW (40.23 bhp) or 50kW (67.05 bhp) single-motor setup. MG is expected to procure the battery pack locally from Tata Autocomp, which has a joint venture with Chinese battery supplier Goshan to design, manufacture, supply and service battery packs in the country. In previous years, Mahindra had tried to capture the segment with two vehicles, the e2o and the e2oPlus, but the project did not find much success, partly due to the lack of charging infrastructure at the time. As the number of charging points continues to grow, it will be interesting to see how this car performs in our market.