MG Motor India has just landed a surprise
at Auto Expo 2020, and it is quite literally massive! The G10 MPV could be
coming to India before this year’s festive season, if officials from the
manufacturer are to be believed. The G10’s reveal follows the recent launch of
the Kia Carnival just 2 days earlier. It will pretty much
sit in the same space as the Kia offering and could also undercut it in terms
of price and be closer to the Toyota Innova Crysta. The MG G10 can be
configured to seat 7 to 9 passengers including the driver. It is sold as the
Maxus G10 in China by MG parent SAIC.
The G10 features a large 3-piece panoramic
sunroof, voice recognition, and other smart features seen on current MG
offerings via the i-Smart system. We expect to see the i-Smart 2.5 version in
the G10 at its launch here, which also has a chit-chat feature to enable users
to have AI-enabled short conversations with the car. All of this can be
accessed via the 10.1 touchscreen infotainment display on the dash.
Additionally, and since this is a car to
carry multiple passengers with ease, you also get comforts such as powered
front seats, a 220V laptop charging point, 360-degree camera to tip toe through
tight spots, and a convenient electric tailgate.
In China, the Maxus G10 comes powered by a
2.0 litre turbocharged petrol engine, which produces 220 PS and 345 m. There is
also a 1.9 litre turbocharged diesel motor outputting 147 PS/350 Nm available.
Either motor comes mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission only.
While MG Motor India has not confirmed the
launch timeline or the specifications of the G10 that will come to India, MPVs
certainly seem to be the flavour of the season. So we can expect them to
expedite its arrival before the trend wanes. To boot, the Innova had no real
competitor until the Carnival. And with the MG G10 seemingly on its way, things
could finally heat up the people carrier space.
While it is priced around Rs 13 lakh in
China, we expect it to come in at around the Rs 20 lakh-mark when launched in
India. At this price, it would still be almost Rs 5 lakh cheaper than the
Carnival and about Rs 2 lakh more than the Innova -- certainly worth waiting
for.
