By Rohit Vaid
New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS): Barely a year after successfully launching SUV Hector and bucking the slowdown trend, the Chinese automobile major SAIC-backed MG Motor India has repeated the feat again, this time with its first electric offering ZS EV.
A successful model in international markets such as UK and Thailand - ZS - has garnered more than 2,100 bookings in the last 27 days, leading the company to close bookings ahead of its price announcement, industry insiders told IANS.
It is expected that the company will announce the vehicle's price on January 23.
Furthermore, the bookings for the new vehicle has also outpaced the total number of EVs sold in India this financial year.
MG Motor India had begun to accept bookings for the vehicle last month.
Specification-wise, the new vehicle is powered by an all-new, 44.5 kWh, liquid-cooled Nickel Manganese Cobalt battery from CATL, which is one of the world's largest battery manufacturers.
The new vehicle sports a range of 340 kilometers on a full charge.
It is capable of delivering 353 Nm of instant torque and 143 PS power, accomplishing 100 km per hr from a standstill in 8.5 seconds.
Currently, the compact electric SUV is sold in more than 10 international markets spanning Europe, Australia, and southeast Asia.
Apart from the new vehicle, the company is also building a five-way EV charging ecosystem in the country and plans to provide an on-board cable on every ZS to charge at any 15 amp socket.
Furthermore, it plans to provide customers with free installation of an AC fast charger at their homes or offices through the company's association with Delhi-based eChargeBays.
Recently, the carmaker partnered with 'Fortum Charge & Drive India' to set up 10 DC 50 kW fast charging stations at select MG showrooms in five cities - Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.
The company has recorded healthy sales ever since it launched the Hector SUV.
At present, the carmaker's first offering SUV Hector has an order book of 20,000 bookings. It has till date sold nearly 16,000 units of Hector since the vehicles launch in July 2019.