Udit Malhotra on how MG Motor is tapping festive peaks to accelerate EV adoption

India's electric vehicle market is at a turning point. EV sales in India crossed 2 million in 2024, marking a 24% growth and an 8% market share, up from 6.8% from the previous year. Despite these rising numbers, the country’s EV market is relatively small, accounting for about 2.5% of all cars sold last year. High upfront prices and limited charging infrastructure continue to hold many buyers back, even as the government pushes for cleaner mobility.

For marketers, one of the biggest challenges in the EV category is convincing consumers to switch to a technology that still raises questions around cost and range. Traditional product-focused advertising has not been enough for a segment that requires education, trust-building, and significant behavioural change.

MG Motor, which holds a 27% share of India’s battery EV market, is attempting to address this with its latest campaign, ‘EV Sahi Hai’. Moving away from feature-led messaging and celebrity endorsements, the initiative leans on consumer advocacy, with real users responding to common questions such as “Do EVs really save money?” and “Is charging an EV really a hassle?” The campaign borrows its trust-building approach from AMFI’s ‘Mutual Fund Sahi Hai’ initiative, reworking the model for the automotive space.

In this conversation, Udit Malhotra, Head of Marketing at JSW MG Motor India, explains how the brand is navigating the complexities of EV marketing by balancing digital-first strategies with traditional media reach, tailoring campaigns regionally, and leveraging the festive season to accelerate adoption.

Edited Excerpts: 

The ‘EV Sahi Hai’ campaign draws inspiration from the ‘Mutual Fund Sahi Hai’ campaign by AMFI. What was the reason behind adopting a similar model, and how did you adapt it to the electric vehicle market? Can you explain why the campaign was divided into two phases, celebrity-led and consumer-testimonies?

AMFI’s ‘Mutual Fund Sahi Hai’ campaign was launched back in 2017 to build the mutual funds category in India. Similarly, in MG’s journey of building our new energy and electric vehicle portfolio, we felt a strong need for category creation and nurturing.

Who better to do that than our customers themselves? In Phase 1, we focused on consumer-led advocacy, highlighting the real savings people experience with EV ownership. We also reinforced the progress in EV charging infrastructure, which has grown from 6,000 to nearly 30,000 charging stations in India – a 5x increase.

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In Phase 2, we brought in Pulkit Samrat and Varun Sharma, the Fukrey duo, to use humour as a medium to convey that EV charging infrastructure is widely available. So Phase 1 emphasised real savings and real customer experiences, while Phase 2 drove home the infrastructure message in an entertaining, relatable way.

Can you break down your media mix strategy? What percentage of your marketing budget is allocated to digital versus traditional channels? What's your social media strategy? Are you creating platform-specific content?

The campaign was designed with a clear platform-first strategy. All our content is under 30 seconds – sharp, thumb-stopper videos meant to deliver the message quickly and effectively.

MG has always been a digital-first brand. For this campaign, however, we’ve allocated budgets almost equally between TV and digital. The reason is that we want to reach not just the early adopters, but also the fence sitters and family decision-makers who are influenced by traditional media.

Radio accounts for around 10% of the mix, complementing TV frequency. We’re also adding an experiential layer through mall activations and BTL campaigns across the top 10 EV markets in India, with EV experience zones where people can learn about the category and explore our cars first-hand.

Who is your primary target audience for this campaign beyond the obvious car buyers? Are you targeting specific demographics, psychographics, or geographic segments, and how does your messaging vary across these different consumer groups?

Broadly, there are two consumer concerns we’re addressing: range anxiety and the perception that EV ownership is expensive. That’s why our messaging is built around infrastructure availability and savings.

The EV buyer today is typically an informed decision-maker. But we are equally focused on fence sitters, those considering their first EV purchase. Beyond that, we know that homemakers and children play a big role in influencing purchase decisions, which is why our content is not about “selling the car” but about conversations. If you notice, many of our campaign films don’t even show the car. They are designed to normalise EVs in everyday conversations.

Our media mix reflects this — we’re targeting news and GEC audiences on TV, while running YouTube and Meta campaigns with a TV-plus approach to ensure incremental reach across households.

The campaign launched right before India’s festive season. What was the strategic thinking behind this timing? Was it linked to higher car-buying intent during this period?

Absolutely. Car buying peaks during the festive season. In the South, Onam had already begun; in the West, Ganesh Chaturthi was underway; and in the North, Navratri and Diwali were approaching.

As part of MG 2.0, we want to drive share of mind and share of voice in the EV category. Launching EV Sahi Hai during this period allowed us to leverage heightened buying intent and maximise festive momentum.

MG's initial ‘It's a Human Thing’ campaign focused on technology and the car as a companion, while ‘EV Sahi Hai’ uses consumer testimonials to build trust. This marks a significant change in storytelling strategy. What drove this evolution in brand storytelling? How has MG's voice adapted to the changing Indian automotive market, particularly with the rise of EVs?

‘It’s a Human Thing’ was MG’s launch narrative, focused on our British lineage and how technology enables human connection. With campaigns like Hector and Gloster, we consistently humanised technology by showing how cars can listen, respond, and act like companions.

With EVs, however, the challenge is different – it’s about category building. So we leaned into real people and real experiences. The idea was to instill confidence in prospective buyers by showing actual EV owners sharing why ‘EVs are right.’ It’s not a brand endorsement; it’s advocacy from those already living the experience.

India's festive calendar varies dramatically by region. Each region also has different EV adoption rates and infrastructure readiness. How is MG customising its festive marketing beyond just language translation? Can you share what your festive marketing plan looks like?

We’re following a sharp hyperlocal approach. Our dealer partners are helping us create regional content, and we’re working with regional media and micro-influencers to add authenticity.

But more importantly, we’re grounding campaigns in cultural context. For example, during Onam, we launched ‘Onam Awahanam,’ inviting people to join us for a sadhya meal rather than just offering discounts. In the West, our campaign ‘Maji MG, Maza Pride’ ties into Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations while also highlighting state subsidies on EVs. For the North, we have market-specific festive activations planned as well.

Festivals often mark the time for big-ticket family purchases. How do you see EVs fitting into this purchase ritual? Are you creating special festive bundles, EMI offers, or exchange programs to make EVs more accessible?

Yes. We’ve been innovating around affordability. For instance, our Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) model reduces upfront costs by allowing buyers to pay separately for the vehicle and per-kilometre battery usage.

For festive buyers, we also have:

• Green loan offers with preferential interest rates
• Three-month EMI holidays
• 100% on-road funding
• Vehicle funding options up to 10 years

These are transactional levers designed to make EV adoption easier, and they are being actively promoted across print and digital at a hyperlocal level.

Many brands are now experimenting with AI-generated content and hyper-personalisation. Do you think AI will meaningfully change festive campaigns this year? Are you planning on using AI in any form?

Yes, we are already experimenting with GenAI in creative development. For instance, our last Ganesh Chaturthi campaign used a GenAI narrative, which helped us move faster from concept to execution.

AI won’t replace human creativity, but it accelerates go-to-market and enhances personalisation. Currently, we may be at 30% personalisation; with AI, this could grow to 50–60%.

Beyond content, our focus is on how AI can improve customer experience. That’s where we see real value – making the journey smoother and more personalised for each customer.

Last season, Zepto made headlines by partnering with an automobile company to deliver doorstep 10-minute test drives. With festivals being a peak time for big-ticket purchases in many households, is this kind of quick-commerce partnership something MG would want to explore?

While it’s an interesting idea, I don’t think it’s feasible right now. The challenge is car availability – if a promised test drive doesn’t arrive, it creates a poor customer experience.

At MG, our philosophy is about enabling exciting experiences, but only when we can deliver them consistently. Until the ecosystem is ready to support such rapid services at scale, we’d prefer not to experiment with it.

Gen Z consumers in India are simultaneously more environmentally conscious and more financially constrained than previous generations. They want sustainable mobility but can't afford new cars, leading to increased interest in used vehicles and shared mobility. How should the automotive industry adapt to a generation that may never follow traditional ownership patterns? Where do you think the future of EV is headed?

Gen Z’s aspiration is strong, but affordability is the key barrier. That’s why innovations like Battery-as-a-Service are critical. With products like the MG Comet, priced from ₹4.99 lakh plus per-kilometre costs, we’ve made EV ownership accessible to younger buyers.

By being the first OEM to introduce BaaS in India, MG is enabling affordability while staying aligned with Gen Z’s sustainability goals.

The Indian automotive marketing landscape is undergoing massive change, from product-focused advertising to experience marketing, and mass communication to personalised engagement. As marketing leaders like yourself navigate this shift, where do you see MG's marketing strategy heading in the next five years?

MG will continue to be digital-first. The two areas that will accelerate most, with the advent of AI, are personalisation and preference-based marketing. That’s where the real transformation will happen – creating more tailored, relevant experiences for each customer.