MG Hector Infotainment System gets Improved Voice Assist

The MG Hector was launched on 27th June. Hector is the most feature-loaded SUV in the segment. It is available in four trims – Style, Super, Smart and Sharp. We have given a complete list of features. This will help you select the perfect variant out of the four. Along with this, it is giving the car a bigger price range. Hector is a very good combination to offer buyers from the get-go. Apart from all of this, this is the car that is being touted as the first Internet Car in the country with its I-smart system.

The engine specifications stand with the Hector getting 1.5-liter petrol and 2.0-liter diesel, both of which are available with a manual and an automatic. It also gets a hybrid option in the form of a 48-volt mild-hybrid system, paired with the 1.5-liter turbo-petrol engine, boosts the MG Hector’s fuel efficiency by a significant margin. Therefore, to know in-depth specs and more about the hybrid system and see the detailed review of this car, scroll down. Its a month now and the car has crossed more than 210000 bookings. The company has stopped the bookings of the car for 2019 temporarily. The production plant of the car is in Halol, Gujrat where they are trying to speed up production.

MG Hector Price in India

So the diesel motor that is used in the MG SUV is the Fiat units used in the Jeep Compass. The size of the car is close to that of the Hyundai Tuscon and the Honda CRV. These attributes paired with a strong pricing strategy make the MG brand unstoppable. The car is looking to slot itself in the Rs 15 lakhs to Rs 20 lakh price range. This price range is a very strong and competitive price segment to get into.

With that kind of pricing the car will be competing with the Tata Harrier, Hyundai Creta, Nissan Kicks and the Mahindra XUV500. The car is getting a good response. The pricing of the car seems very attractive as more than 10000 bookings had been done for this car within a month of its announcement.

MG Hector Production Strategy

Earlier this year MG motors had to temporarily stop their bookings for the Hector SUV. This was in the month of July. The vehicle was in great demand and the company is struggling to keep up with the high demand. The number of bookings is currently 42,000 units of which 8,000 came in 10 days alone. The bookings were opened again on September 29. The company has estimated that the company has bookings that will cross the 50,000 units by the end of this year. The productions of the hector have been around 3,000 units in a month. Now the company is planning to take this up by 3,500 units in the next few months. They will invest around Rs 2,600 crore within a few years. It will ramp up its capacity by taking the company’s total investment in India to Rs 5,000 crore. In August-September 2019 the company has sold more than 6,134 units. Thus expected to sell more than 2,600 – 2,800 units in October.

MG Hector Bookings

In an official statement, Rajeev Chaba, president and managing director at MG Motor India, said, “The Hector has received an overwhelming response and we are unable to cater to such high initial demand. We are, therefore, closing bookings temporarily as this will help ensure timely and orderly deliveries for our customers who have shown tremendous confidence in MG.

We are also working with our component suppliers to ramp up production in a gradual manner without any compromise on quality.” But now there is a new that the bookings of this vehicle will resume from October. Although the bookings for the car might start now but the vehicle will be delivered in 2020. This is a bit of a loss on the side of customers as they will not receive their car for the festive season.

MG Hector Variants

Bookings for the Hector SUV are open only online on the company’s website and for a Down payment of Rs 50,000. The company has initially supported the booking process across 120 centers in India. The variants are as follow –

MG Hector Style [Rs 12.18-13.18 lakh]

Offered with 1.5 Petrol-MT and 2.0 Diesel-MT

• Front and rear disc brakes
• ABS with EBD
• ESP
• Reverse parking sensors
• ORVMs with integrated LED turn indicators
• Roof rails
• Dual front airbags
• Fabric upholstery
• Four speakers
• Driver armrest with storage space
• Cooled glove box
• Rear AC vents
• Reclining rear seat
• 60:40-split folding second row
• Isofix mounting points on second row
• Rear-seat centre armrest with cupholders
• Two fast-charging USB ports

MG Hector Super [Rs 12.98-14.18 lakh]

Offered with 1.5 Petrol-MT, 1.5 Petrol-Hybrid-MT and 2.0 Diesel-MT

• LED tail-lights
• LED rear fog lamps
• 10.4-inch touchscreen infotainment
• Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support
• Four speakers with two tweeters
• Cruise control
• Chrome interior door handles
• Rear parking camera

MG Hector Smart [Rs 14.68-15.48 lakh]

Offered with 1.5 Petrol-AT, 1.5 Petrol-Hybrid-MT and 2.0 Diesel-MT

• Four airbags (dual front + two side airbags)
• Power-adjustable and foldable ORVMs
• Chrome accent on exterior cladding
• 17-inch machined alloy wheels
• Internet connectivity via SIM card
• Online navigation
• Eight speakers (four speakers with four tweeters)
• Subwoofer
• TPMS
• Remote car operation
• 7.0-inch MID
• Keyless entry
• Push-button start/stop
• PU-leather upholstery
• Six-way electrically adjustable driver’s seat
• Electric handbrake (automatic only)

MG Hector Sharp [Rs 15.88-16.88 lakh]

Offered with 1.5 Petrol-AT, 1.5 Petrol-Hybrid-MT and 2.0 Diesel-MT

• Heated ORVMs
• Rain-sensing wipers
• Automatic headlights
• Panoramic sunroof
• Six airbags (dual front + two side + two curtain airbags)
• Four-way electrically adjustable co-driver seat
• Sunglasses holder
• Mood lighting in eight colors
• 360-degree view camera

MG Hector Launch

MG will launch this product on the 27th of June, this month. The vehicle will be made in the MG’s Halol plant. This will the first product to be launched in India by MG. MG will be then launching a product every year in India. For the Hector, MG will be launching the car in the second half of next month.

MG India has so far invested INR 2,200 crores in its Gujarat manufacturing plant to roll out the much-awaited MG Hector. The company has set up a new assembly line, new press shop, new body shop, new parts distribution center, testing track and a state-of-the-art training facility in the plant, within a short span of 18 months. MG’s Halol plant currently has a production capacity of 80,000 units per annum and has the provision to increase the capacity going forward depending upon the requirement. 

MG Hector Interior

These interiors make the car look more appealing from the inside and give a premium touch.

MG Hector Exterior

Scroll down to check out our design analysis on the exterior of the car!

Also Read: 7 Seater Hyundai Creta to take on Maruti’s mid-size SUV

MG Hector Key Features

But it seems that the name is the only historical bit about this car. The Hector is going to come with a lot of features packed in its I-Smart system that will be made with the help of its partners as mentioned above. The cars biggest and most impressive feature is going to be the voice assistant and the app-based integrations offered by the MG.net app. The voice assist wakes up as soon as one says – ‘Hello MG’ and the car can control and perform a host of features like – Air Conditioning, Music, sunroof open-close and a lot more. You can perform more tasks than a normal voice assist which only reads out messages or places calls. The Pulse-Hub concierge service helps in finding restaurants, placing orders and doing payment transactions too. The system also has an E-Call feature that helps in emergencies.

The name ‘Hector’ draws inspiration from the noble qualities of the Trojan warrior hero – Prince Hector of Troy. It pays homage to great British engineering tradition, as a nod to the Royal Hector biplane, used by the Royal Air Force in the 1930s.

The car now gets an update to the Infotainment system. The new voice assistant is quicker and recognizes commands well. This update will be seen in a vehicle that roll of the production line, as well as the existing owners, will get the OTA (Over the Air). They have fixed the problem of understanding Indian accents. A few new voice commands also have been introduced. This also gets Apple Car Play.

Here are 8 things we think you should know about the MG Hector –

• The MG Hector Will be available with both petrol and diesel engines
• It is bigger than the Harrier and the Tuscon (scroll down for dimensions)
• MG claims 75% localization for Hector
• The car will get more premium with soft-touch materials, first in class features and a 12.1-inch touchscreen
• Hector will be available with a subscription service
• The car will be available with MG’s I-Smart system that has been developed with several new technologies
• It will have remote start-stop available
• The MG Hector will get a personalized experience for buying and servicing of the car

MG Hector Specifications

The premium car that will be the MG Hector, is going to be powered by a 1.5-liter turbocharged petrol engine and a 2.0-liter turbo diesel. The manual gearbox is to be a 6-speed unit while the automatic is a dual-clutch set-up. The 1.5-liter turbo-petrol in the MG Hector is going to produce 143bhp of power along with 250Nm of peak torque. Both engines will be sourced from Fiat. The Jeep Compass’ diesel motor will do duty on the MG SUV too. Recently a bunch of MG SUV’s have been spotted along with a Hyundai Tucson. This shows that the Chinese automaker is benchmarking its first Indian product against the premium Hyundai offering. MG Motor India MD, Mr. Rajeev Chaba has revealed that the SUV is a mid-sized C segment SUV.

It is not a Hyundai Creta or Jeep Compass rival in any way, but a much bigger and a more premium offering. Apart from this, the car will get 17-inch alloy wheels from the base variant.

MG Hector Hybrid

MG is also offering the car with a hybrid variant that uses a 48-volt mild hybrid system. A 48-volt lithium-ion battery helps store energy and provide extra torque assistance of up to 20 Nm when required. The combination also helps in reducing emissions by up to 12 percent using three key functions – Engine Auto Start-Stop, Regenerative Braking and E-Boost.

MG Hector Dimensions

Measuring 4,655mm in length, 1,835mm in width and 1,760mm in height, the MG is longer and taller than Tata’s Land Rover-platform-based Harrier and even the Hyundai Tucson. As the Hector will only have seats for five, expect a roomy cabin and a large boot.

MG Hector Walkaround Video

MG Hector Interior and Design

The interior first! Inside the car looks like it’s borrowing details like the air vents, instrument cluster, door handles and the handbrake lever from it’s SAIC cousins the MG Baojun 530 and the Roewe RX5. The car also gets a panoramic sunroof, ambient lighting, a digital instrument console and features like lane assist, park assist and 6 airbags for safety. The front driver seat will be electrically adjustable too. The interior is upmarket and plush too, with leather seats, soft-touch materials on the dashboard and chrome surround for the AC vents.

Its exterior styling is boxy and traditional. It also gets 17-inch alloy wheels. The car will also get a DRLs which will turn into turn signals like the Harrier. The above image shows us how this DRL will be an individual unit, separate from the main headlight cluster.

Also Read: Tata Harrier will be the bigger than XUV500 and Jeep Compass

MG Hector Images

MG Hector I-Smart Features

Coming back to the I-Smart technology on the car, this gets a large 10.4-inch touchscreen that acts as the center console of the car which will also get tech connectivity features like eSIM which is in collaboration with Airtel. The car gets OTA (Over The Air) technology and updates and the OS, experience, apps and interface of this system is developed by MG India in collaboration with companies like Airtel, Cisco, Adobe, AccuWeather Microsoft, SAP, Nuance, Ganna, Panasonic and TomTom. Another new development is that the car will have tech connectivity features like eSIM.

The car aims at offering a connected mobility experience that would be able to do almost everything that a smartphone can. The OS on this car will be designed to behave in complete pairing with the phone and thereby we can expect a feature like Mirror-Link too. The platform will not just be able to inform drivers about the car’s health but can also provide passenger health information. With an eSIM, the car will offer always-connected experience with navigation, apps, multimedia and transactions as well. This connected car is IPv6 ready and is OTA-enabled which is similar to getting OTA updates on smartphones and MG could push out software features and inform drivers about the health of car parts, etc directly. OTA mobility is something seen on Tesla cars.

MG Hector Subscription

British car manufacturer MG Motors is set to make its entry in India and has collaborated with Indian car-rental service, Myles cars. This collaboration will help customers hire MG Motors’ first entry in India and their latest SUV. MG says that this partnership will allow the company to leverage the existing network of Myles across 21 cities, once the company launches its first model in Q2, 2019. This will be in addition to MG’s network of 110 sales and service dealerships at the start of sales.

This collaboration is an effort by MG Motors to cater to the evolving requirements of the new-age customers, as per Rajeev Chaba, President & Managing Director, MG Motor India. The company also plans to extend the subscription model to its second launch, a full-fledged electric vehicle, by the end of this year.

MG Hector Competition

The car will compete with the Creta, Compass, upcoming Kia SP, Nissan Kicks and the Tata Harrier in terms of size and pricing. The car is bigger than these cars and has a more premium look for sure.

• Creta
• Compass
• Upcoming Kia SP
• Nissan Kicks
• Tata Harrier