MG Astor launched; prices to start from Rs 9.78 Lakh

MG India has announced via a video on their YouTube channel the pricing details of their Astor SUV. The car will start from an introductory price of Rs 9.78 lakh, and the car can be reserved now by paying an upfront fee of Rs 21,000. The company is targeting a November release for the car, with another target of delivering atleast 5,000 units by the end of the year.

Effectively a combustion variant of the ZS EV, the Astor will get 2 engine options- both petrol. The first will be a 1.5L engine which produces a power output of (108HP/144NM), while the other option is a 1.3L engine, which produces a power output of (140HP/220NM). The 1.5L will get both manual as well as an automatic variant, while the 1.3L will get only a torque converter automatic.

As can be seen in the image above, the manual gearbox will be offered across all 4 variants of the car, namely Style, Super, Smart and Sharp. The 1.5L CVT will not be offered on the base trim, while the 1.3L torque converter will only be available on the top 2 trims.

The car takes most of it’s design cues from the ZS EV, but has a few exterior tweaks, like the 17-inch alloys, redesigned DRL’s, a chrome front bumper with a new “Celestial” grille, and also a new rear bumper. There is also a massive panoramic sunroof on offer!

As we saw with the previous reveal, the car is loaded to the brim with tech as it’s main focus. Features from Park+, a Jio e-sim, navigation from MapMyIndia and a “vehicle passport” all are standard with the car. More can be read about it here. There are also safety features like cruise control, lane departure warning, lane keep assist to name a few.

The main focus in the cabin is on the new robot that MG has put in the cabin. It will act as a voice assistant, and will answer queries and questions by searching on the net. It may seem a bit childish, but I find this a novel idea to add to the car’s feature list! There is also Level 2 autonomy in the car, though the ADAS features will have their pricing revealed at a later date.

The main rivals for the car will be the Duster, Creta, Kushaq and Taigun, and it’ll be interesting to see how MG’s offering fares against these established competitors’ offerings!