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-   -   MG Cloud spotted testing in India. EDIT: Named Windsor (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/electric-cars/283252-mg-cloud-spotted-testing-india-edit-named-windsor-22.html)

I was very excited for this launch and was eagerly waiting for it.

Now that the car has been launched, I am more confused with what MG came up with.

Most of the points have already been discussed in this forum, let me add some more confusions.

1. They say that public charging is free for a year through MG -ehub. I am sure MG -ehub will include N numbers of company chargers and when you charge your car through them, you pay zero fees. What if that particular company where you are charging is not included in the MG program or they left their partnership midway. Eg : Zeon chargers is not listed in the program or they have ended their partnership. Now if I charge through Zeon, whom to pay and will I get a refund?

2. Slow Charging at our homes will be an extra cost. There won't be any breakup of home charging vs charging at public chargers. So basically if you charge at home, that will be an extra cost in addition to the monthly subscription charges. This same logic will work if you plan to go on a vacation and you charge your car at a homestay or at a hotel.

3. The false and hidden promises of dealers and sales department will be the biggest issue. They won't tell all the fair T and C as they themselves won't be knowing them and at the end the customer will be fooled.

Example : A lot of solar distributors still tell you that once you install solar panels, electricity will be free. What's hidden in their statements is that you still have to pay some fixed amount. The amount is negligible in comparison to what you are already paying to discom and hence they term it as free. But actually, it's not free.
Similarly, in Windsor scenario sales team will come up with a statement that will be an eye catching but will have a hidden terms and conditions for sure.

4. With increasing demands of EV, the per unit charge of electricity will be getting high on a long run. So this figure of ₹3.5 / km will never be same. And, as the customer will already be in a subscription model, if they increase the price, he eventually have to pay.

Ok, They tried to be innovative, but ended up confusing the consumer. There is already so much hesitation about the transition to EV, that the ones sitting on the fence may not even bother to read the T&C's.

They should have possibly launched with both options, i.e. ownership and Baas, and it would have got them far more interest.

On a lighter note, Did anyone in the MG team not think about the meaning of the term "Baas" in Hindi rl: It is the Baas that may keep the consumers from flocking in for this one

Exactly, my use case is 100- 150 Km a day, except during school vacation months where it may drop to 5-10 Km a day. I like the car, but I don't want to pay battery lease costs in perpetuity in direct proportion to my usage. I guess there are many like me (school drop- office drop- school pickup- office pickup).

I think MG India did not apply themselves rigorously enough to different possibilities, customer use cases and sentiment analysis around ownership vs perpetual payment. Likely more clarifications are coming in a month or so. I just hope the car does not suffer any damage to its brand value proposition in that time.

Please read the thread to go through a lot of points are already pointed out by other BHPians

1. Buyback is a plan that needs to be bought. It has conditions of 3 years and max 60,000 kms.
2. Battery rental will have 18% GST as well
3. Charging cost will be Rs. 1 to 1.5 per km.
4. Battery is financed to the customer, the customer is liable to pay for the battery if he wants to resale the car or the battery is damaged.

This is not BaaS by any means. I will give an analogy in IT parlance. Lets take example of PaaS (Platform as a service). Say a company asks me to deploy 10 servers for them and we agree on a monthly charge to be paid by the customer. Customer will get 10 servers to use and the maintenance of servers and their uptime is my responsibility. If my data center burns down, I will replace the servers. And the day the company wants to discontinue the service, I will not ask for cost of the 10 servers to be paid.

MG Windsor BaaS is not available for commercial registration

There is more to it. The number of units will have to be capped to be used in an year will be capped. There cannot be unlimited units as they cannot validate which car is charging on the charger. I can start charging for any car connected to charger remotely.

Forget the cost calculations, that's the ulgiest mash up I have seen.

Is it only me? I am unable to unsee this similarity.

First time on T-BHP people are not talking much about the car itself and just talking about the MG's rental plan. I am still not clear on the exact plan and how it will work for common man. I guess MG should give both options to buyers, rental or outright purchase. I guess that will make things simple and clear for common man to decide which is beneficial for them.

Coming to car itself, design is not attractive and most people will not like it. Interiors are also not that great and that big screen is big no no for me. It will surely distract driver which is very dangerous. Seat cushioning choice is also very interesting and not sure if people will like that sofa like look and feel in car. Will be interesting to see how market responds to this car.

It is a good package provided the safety ratings are good.

The car is very spacious and offers good power/torque for its footprint. We will know about the ride/ handling as reviews start pouring in. The entry version is priced quite well at INR 9.99 lakh considering the bells and whistles it offers. Hope they have priced the mid variant (almost fully loaded) aggressively as well - I don't find the price mentioned anywhere.

There is a minimum commitment of 1,500 km per month for the BAAS. Which means we need to shell out INR 63,000 every year for the battery rental. A 38 kwh battery would cost around INR 5,70,000 (@INR 15,000 per kwh) or lesser. So MG is expecting a rental yield of around 11% which is competitive (or a payback period of 9 years which aligns with the useable lifespan of the battery).

Questions remain - will BAAS charge be guaranteed fixed at 3.5 INR/km or will it inflate each year at MG's whim (e.g. like telecom tariffs)?

Will there be an option for a larger battery (BAAS or upfront payment) for people who need longer range - I assume it would easily be accommodated within the 2.7 m wheelbase?

Considering the information available at this time, I wonder why MG thought it was a good idea to sell a vehicle through forced financing. Sure, a finance "option" would reduce the sticker shock, but finance being the "only option" reduces its attractiveness to the larger customer base. But assuming they declare an ex-showroom price, including the battery (which I think they will have to), what's stopping a customer from buying the car with a full down payment? And if we can, then this entire exercise is a way of staying in people's minds "rent-free." It might work from a marketing standpoint but also look like a cheap trick.

Q & A
When is it a good time to buy a MG vehicle?

Answer :

Generally after a year from launch. Dust settles, reality bites, price correction sets in.

This has been the case with the ZS ev and Comet.

This more an EV problem than an MG problem. Most EVs from the Nexon to the EQS were launched at much higher prices than they sell for now.

For someone looking at an outright purchase, they have closed that channel completely. There are people out there who do not like the concept of buying a car on a financial lease/loan. Despite buying the car, they technically do not own it "completely".

It does not make sense at all. Why are you restricting the option to buy the car as a complete unit? Would it not increase the numbers if options are given? Give both the options to the buyer and let him decide whether he wants to buy or lease the battery.

Why would anyone buy the car at 12.49 ex showroom with outright transfer of money through his account and still be okay for a lease on the battery (Which he does not own). Does not make sense to me.

To all those who don’t like the battery subscription model, give it a year or two. I won’t be surprised if this scheme is silently withdrawn or put on “hold” due to “technical or organisational” challenges ;).

Hi, although I find Windsor EV one of the best EV available on sale for most users (under 25 lacs), however, MG just killed this fantastic product by introducing BAAS. I feel, no matter what they do now, it is not going to be accepted by majority of buyers. May be 100 to 150 units monthly sale, may be.

I would love to consider it had they launched it

Excite - 13.99 lacs ex showroom with 3 years 60% buy back guarantee (3 years maximum 60000km)
Exclusive - 14.99 lacs ex showroom with 3 years 60% buy back guarantee (3 years maximum 60000km)
Essence - 16.50 lacs ex showroom with 3 years 60% buy back guarantee (3 years maximum 60000km)

However, the mistake they made is comparing Windsor with like of Punch.ev & Nexon.ev and to keep the sticker price lower, they launched it with BAAS, the biggest mistake, rather blunder they did.

This seems like a terrific buy for those with very low running.

MG has just updated its FAQ stating there won't be a minimum KM limit in their BaaS plans, all depends on the financier we choose for the battery.





MG needs to put up a comparison chart of its financiers and plan options to avoid confusion and misinformation

MG JSW has an extra margin worth ~ Rs. 2Lacs in the base car without the battery if you compare with the petrol ZS/Astor and the difference in GST rates. If they really wanted to, they could have launched the base Excite at around 12-12.5Lacs and delivered a killer punch to punch+nexon (assuming the fully costed battery pack is about 4-4.5Lacs. Should be lower, the way LFP prices have fallen).

Somebody (a Mckinsey type consultant?) has sold them this BaaS model as a way of making more money on the base case while making it look affordable to buyers (+ a marketing gimmick to generate 9.99L headlines). And then their financial modelers want to milk the battery separately. JSW MG are trying to nickle-and-dime the customers to show a profit on every individual battery loaned to their financiers at commercial rates of interest (and probably at full battery cost), which can make it a bad deal - both for low mileage and high running customer segments. The per km charges will be too high (not Rs. 3.5) for low running/ no-minimum commitment segment, and the high running customers want a bigger battery and a Rs 1-1.5 per km charging cost after paying full amount for the entire car+battery.

Besides, the complexity of the BaaS pricing is putting off customers and eroding trust in the brand, even before test drives could generate any positive word of mouth. If they really wanted to do an honest job of it, JSW MG could have run a 3-month awareness campaign on BaaS before launching the car and made it lucrative for buyers.