We will be more EV-focused: Udit Malhotra, JSW MG Motor India

In its maiden year post the formalization of the joint venture with the JSW Group, MG Motor India’s strategic focus towards has been on building the MG 2.0 strategy and its New Energy Vehicle (NEV) portfolio.

As per Udit Malhotra, Head of Marketing, JSW MG Motor India, “Our razor-sharp focus is towards becoming the number one player, or OEM, in the NEV space, and our EV (Electric Vehicle) portfolio is leading it from the front. From factual standpoint, MG Motor India’s NAV portfolio has grown by 196%, in H1 of CY25 versus CY24. Even Q1 CY25 versus Q2 CY25, there is a 29% growth overall. As category leaders, we look to build and nurture this category and build share of voice and share of mind.”

The company recently completed six years of operations in India, the brand’s philosophy remains ‘Humanizing Tech’ right from its first campaign with Benedict Cumberbatch, ‘It's a Human Thing’, to its last campaign with Windsor, which showcased living the business class way, “Windsor EV Live business class.” Malhotra says, “The entire objective is on how we are adding value of tech in the life of consumers, and we've continued to build this as the narrative of the brand. This continues to be the approach when it comes to marketing MG Motor and how we want to voice our products, as humanizing tech.” He continues, “Across our product portfolio, we have now attained 100% awareness levels, when it comes to the brand recall of MG. The Q2 CY25 recall metric is at 100%, and, even for the EV portfolio, for deeper metrics, like familiarity and consideration, we are as high as 95% on familiarity and consideration of the brand. This is encouraging, because whatever efforts we put from 2020 with the launch of ZS EV to the latest Windsor, has reaped benefits for us and helped us build the brand and the EV category.”

Perception vs Reality

A challenge for the category is the initial acquisition cost of an EV, where the parity is always drawn in comparison to an ICE vehicle. To counter this category barrier, MG as a brand was the first OEM in India to introduce Battery as a Service, (BAAS), with the objective to democratize EV ownership in the country. This means the consumers pay a base price, and then only pay for the battery rental on a pay-as-you-go model.

The second pain point is on the charging infrastructure which is driven by the element of range anxiety whether there is enough charging infrastructure available in the country. However, if you look at charging infrastructure as per the PIB data, as of 1st August, 2025 shows that Indian now has close to 30,000 charging stations which is 5X compared to a couple of years back.

“EV Sahi Hai”

To address the perceptions around initial ownership cost and mileage, MG Motor India recently launched the campaign, “EV Sahi Hai” targeting prospective buyers. The campaign highlights the absolute savings consumers get when they own an EV and the availability of more than 29,000 charging infrastructure across India.

The inspiration for this campaign came from Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). In 2017, AMFI launched the "Mutual Funds Sahi Hai" campaign to increase awareness of mutual funds (MF) investments. This campaign has been a real game-changer for the industry as it managed to simplify mutual funds, break down the perception of complexity, and bring the category into everyday conversations.

Malhotra says, “The inspiration for this campaign was AMFI and we have attributed this campaign to AMFI as a part of our media communication. In 2017, MF as a category was small but AMFI took the leap on investor education, and they built the MF category over a nine-year period.” He continues, “As part of our roadmap of MG 2.0 and our focus on NEV, it is our responsibility as an OEM to build and nurture the category. “EV Sahi Hai” is the answer to build and nurture the category. We want to achieve category leadership, share of voice, and share of mind of the consumers by dispelling the misconceptions and answering consumers on these points.”

For Phase I of the campaign, MG Motor India tapped its 10 existing customers who talk about their experience using the vehicle and acting as brand advocates for the OEM with testimonials that “this is the right time to buy an EV.” Malhotra states, “We have real people from across the country and geographies, MG EV owners, to talk about their experience. The customer highlights the savings, availability of charges, route planning and ease of using eHUB by MG - a unified EV charging super-app designed to simplify electric journey across India - to dispel the myths pertaining to EV adoption in the country.”

In Phase II actors Pulkit Samrat and Varun Sharma, of Fukrey fame, give a humorous twist to the campaign, with the actors taking a dab at each other, whether there is enough charging infrastructure in the country or not. The ad lands at the fact that there are more than 29,000 charging station in India, so “EV Sahi Hai”. He says, “By getting relatable and known characters, playing on their Fukrey fame, we democratize and create mass relatability.

The Marketing Route

While MG Motor India continues to spearhead on a digital-first approach, television plays an important role in the “EV Sahi Hai” campaign. Malhotra states, “This time Television and Digital will have equal proportion of the mix. In fact, even higher on Television, because the EV customer is already informed and educated. So, one cohort, the techies or the informed consumers have already taken the path towards sustainability.” He continues, “The other part is the decision makers in the family - the homemakers, Gen Z kids – and we are reaching them by using national news channels, general entertainment channels. This is being clubbed with complementing strategies like radio, YouTube, TV+, and other platforms to reach out to incremental audiences.”

Gearing Up For The Festive Season

MG Motor India kicked up its festive season with its Onam dedicated campaign. These included the MG Onam Avahanam - a grand, multi-day celebration that saw current and prospective customers invited to the traditional Onam Sadhya. The event also featured offers on MG cars, and a record-setting "Carkalam" formation, (inspired by a Pookalam (flower carpet)) made of hundreds of MG EVs.

Malhotra says, “By creating an entire festival theme at the dealership and doing specific events, we are trying to build cultural context and relevance during the festivity, and in turn business for the brand for the festive season.” This idea was also locally replicated in Maharashtra with the cultural context related to Marathi culture with the campaign, "Majha Ganpati, Majhi Shaan" (My Ganpati, My Pride). What added cheer was The Maharashtra EV Policy 2025 that offers incentives for EVs by providing a 10% subsidy for passenger EVs (two-wheelers, four-wheelers, and buses).

Malhotra mentions that the early consumer sentiment signals are positive for this festive season. Commenting on the utilization of the marketing budget he says, “We are delving into improving the mix and efficiency of the budget, but not increasing the budget.”

The Journey Ahead

Currently, the South is the biggest market for MG Motor India followed by the West and North with over 70% of all sales coming from NEVs.

Looking ahead Malhotra says, “We will continue to build EV segment in the country and gaining share of mind. We will be more EV-focused, more energy-focused, category development, category leadership, are the areas where we will continue our efforts and build that towards, adding up to the MG brand in the country.”