MG Group, the country’s largest independent bus body builder and now also a complete bus integrator, has made best use of the Busworld India platform in the last few editions of the show. Be it the ‘Mammoth’ luxury coach or the company’s first-ever fully-integrated bus ‘Columbus’, MG has grabbed the limelight at Busworld India by unveiling some show-stopping products.
With Busworld India 2018 just a few days away, we spoke to Mr. Anil M. Kamat, Managing Director, MG Group, on what the company has in store for the event.
Excerpts:
MG Group has been the show-stopper at the last few editions of Busworld India. What do you have in store for this year’s show?
MG Group has been a regular exhibitor at Busworld India, and over the years the name has become synonymous with mega launches in this marquee industry event held every two years in India. With a qualitative change in the expectations of the end-users and the need for reliable and superior products, we have a dedicated Product Development team that works on shaping new models with the latest technology and tools, enabling best-in-class comfort, safety, durability and styling. Our USP is our ability to offer the ‘European Quality at Indian Costs’. Participation in Busworld has given MG a global outreach and recognition and all major international OEMs who now look at India also look to MG, the most trusted brand and partner for bus building in India. We are proud to launch our latest models in the luxury and value coach segment at Busworld India 2018, as we see this as an ideal platform to showcase MG’s capabilities and offerings for the Indian market and customers. Look out for MG Group’s mega launches at the show as we keep raising the bar for the Indian bus industry.
World-leading European OEMs, including MAN, Scania, BYD and most recently Daimler, have chosen MG Group as their preferred bus body building partner in India. How are your projects with these partners shaping up?
MG Group is the preferred body builder for leading vehicle manufacturers present in India and has earned their trust and confidence over the years, primarily driven by our design and engineering strength. We continue to service our partners’ business requirements for both the domestic and export markets. While OEMs have their own internal business strategies, we at MG are focused on our business growth with various partners across the economy, value coach and luxury coach segment. We see an upward trend in volumes given the renewed appetite shown by STUs, the largest buyers of buses in India, and the inter-city segment led by private operators. In the electric bus segment, we are happy to have partnered with Goldstone – BYD as their bus building partner.
You had showcased your first-ever fully integrated vehicle ‘Columbus’ at the last Busworld India. How have things progressed with the project? Can we expect more fully-integrated vehicles from MG Group?
The Columbus was first unveiled as a concept vehicle at Busworld India 2016 in Bangalore. The response was humbling, and we had a lot of interest from prospective customers and bus enthusiasts. Since then we have optimized the product to suit Indian operating conditions, and the Columbus is in final stages of testing and validation. We hope to start serial production in the last quarter of this financial year.
As of now we are not looking at any new fully-integrated vehicle. We are keen and looking forward to launch the Columbus successfully for both the Indian and export markets. However, if in the future we come across niche opportunities befitting our scale and size of operations, we will take an appropriate business decision at that time.
How has the first quarter of FY19 been for MG Group? What are your plans for the rest of the financial year?
The first quarter of FY19 has been similar to Q1 of FY18 without much growth. However, the order pipeline in the inter-city coach segment is looking good.
MG is restructuring its operations at its Belgaum facility and is in the phase of commissioning its brownfield plant dedicated for premium bus and luxury coach manufacturing for all our OEM partners. While we have started the pilot lot production, we expect to stabilize manufacturing at our new plant in Belgaum by the third quarter of this financial year.