MG Motor stops Hector bookings, sold out for 2019; to hike production from Oct

MG Motor India Thursday said it has temporarily stopped bookings for its newly launched SUV Hector following orders of over 21,000 units, thus selling out for the ongoing calendar year. The company will increase the production of the new SUV to 3,000 units from October as part of plans to cater to the increasing demand gradually over the next few months, MG Motor India said in a statement.

MG Motor India's current production capacity for Hector at its Halol plant in Gujarat is around 2,000 units a month. The Hector received orders for more than 21,000 units since bookings began on June 4. The date of re-opening of bookings will be announced soon, the company said.

It launched the Hector last month priced between Rs 12.18-16.88 lakh. "Our first product, MG 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," MG Motor India President & MD Rajeev Chaba said. The company is also working with component suppliers to ramp up production in a gradual manner without any compromise on quality, he added.

The company said it plans to increase the production of the Hector to 3,000 units per month from October this year. The top two variants – Smart and Sharp – have registered the highest demand, with over 50 percent reservations for the petrol variants, it added.