MG Motor was recently in news with its MG 4 EV that was launched in the European market, and now it's in the headlines again, as the British carmaker is gearing up to launch a compact EV in the Indian market. The MG Air EV was spotted testing in Gujrat and is expected to launch in mid 2023. The micro EV will most likely debut at the Auto Expo in January 2023.
The MG Air EV is derived from Wuling Honguang EV sold in China, but seems to have grown in proportions, and since Wuling group owns MG, the EV will most likely be launched in India wearing the MG badge. From the external looks, the MG Air EV's purpose in the market becomes quite obvious. The EV is tiny and only has 2 doors. The silhouette of the Air EV from the side is like a cube with a chamfered edge, and the EV will serve as a city commuter with operating costs lesser than a petrol two-wheeler. The tiny car also features drag reducing wheel covers, and a tall rear window which doesn't appear to be retractable.
Up front, the Air EV gets an LED bar light running across the width and then wrapping around the car to merge with the rear view mirrors, and has twin-pod LED headlamps lower down. Below the headlamps are LED DRLs placed in the position of the fog lamps, and may double up as turn indicators. The EV has a small grille at the bottom, which may function as a vent to cool the battery pack. The EV also features a charging socket up front placed under the logo, similar to that of 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 twin 10.25-inch displays, one for the infotainment and the other for the instrument cluster, and the layout is similar to that of the Hyundai IONIQ 5. Apart from the screens, the dash only has 3 rotary knobs which may be air-con controls, and has a pretty clean layout. The gear selector is also a rotary knob. It gets a 2-spoke steering wheel with several controls. Overall the cabin appears very clean, but is also rather narrow. There's only two seats at the back too, and we will have to wait and see how spacious they are. From the images, it appears that the rear seat has been pushed all the way to the back, and while this may liberate some leg room, with all seats occupied there won't be any room for luggage.
The MG Air EV will reportedly come with two battery options, with expected range being 200-300 km. The EV will be powered by either a 30kW (40.23 bhp) or a 50kW (67.05 bhp) single-motor setup. MG is expected to locally source battery packs from Tata AutoComp, which has a joint venture with Chinese battery supplier Gotion for the design, manufacture, supply and service of battery packs in the country. In past years, Mahindra had tried to capture this segment with two vehicles, the e2O and e2O Plus but the project didn't garner much success, partially owing to the lack of charging infrastructure of the time. As the number of charging points is increasing constantly, it will be interesting to see how this car does in our market.
