The British marque Morris Garage, more commonly known as MG Motors, is all set to make its India debut with the Hector SUV. The car shall be officially unveiled to the public on the 15th of May, 2019, while the launch shall be held a little later in June.
Spy shots have been aplenty, and the company doesn’t seem to shy away from having the car leaked way before its official reveal. A good look at the photos shows aggressive styling, with a mean looking split headlamp cluster, and a chrome encased front mesh grille that proudly wears the rather beautiful octagonal MG badge. There are faux front and rear skid plates, squarish wheel arches and diamond cut alloy wheels to add to the look. The machete inspired tail lamps are connected by a reflector and sit well below the rather small rear windshield.
The Hector shall be offered in both petrol and diesel variants. The petrol motor is a 1.5-litre turbocharged powerplant making 143 BHP. This will come mated to a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed dual clutch automatic transmission. Customers shall also have the option of choosing a 48 volt ‘mild hybrid’, that MG claim is 12% more efficient than the pure petrol variant. While torque figures haven’t been revealed, the hybrid is expected to make 20 more torques, and compensate for turbo lag too. The diesel variant will be a 2.0-litre engine making approximately 170 BHP and shall have the 6-speed manual transmission only.
On the inside, the iSmart connected car feature has been already revealed. It has an artificial intelligence backed voice assist, so expect it to get better with use. This shall be operated from a vertically oriented 10.6-inch touchscreen display that shall also take care of the infotainment.
Apart from the iSmart feature, not much is known about the interiors but expect a lot of features such as a 360-degree camera, huge panoramic sunroof, Harman infinity audio system, push-button start/stop and a tyre pressure monitoring system amongst others.
The Hector goes up against popular incumbents such as the hugely successful Jeep Compass and the Tata Harrier.
