MG Motor India has gotten off to a dream start in the Indian car market. With two SUVs in their portfolio as of now – the Hector and the ZS EV, new products will be added this year. Both these new additions will be SUVs too, in the form of the Gloster and the Hector Plus. However, what also caught our fancy at the Auto Expo which went by was the MG 360M MPV. An XL6-sized vehicle, the 360M was at the venue as a display vehicle but could make a lot of sense in the Indian car space.
Currently, the only proper rival to the Ertiga/XL6 (If we consider captain seats in the second row) is the Marazzo. However, where the former is only available with a petrol engine, the latter only sips diesel and there is quite a difference between the two in terms of prices if one opts for top-spec trims. Also, where the XL6 offers the choice of an automatic gearbox, there’s no such luxury offered with the Marazzo, yet.
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If you wish to settle for something which costs even lesser and is equally or more practical, there’s always the Ertiga. But besides these three vehicles, there’s no other proper choice out there if you ask us. Which is where the MG 360M could slot itself. This MG is nearly identical to the XL6 in terms of dimensions and is a good-looking MPV. These are vehicles developed with practicality as a priority and if we were to compare the two in terms of appearance, we’d call it a draw.
Although the version on display was an international-spec vehicle with its steering on the wrong side, things inside the cabin looked right at home for a vehicle of this class to go on sale in India. What that means is for how things were arranged and bolted inside, if the steering was on the correct side, the 360M could be introduced in India at that very moment. What about firepower? Get this, the motor powering the 360M is a 1.5-litre petrol engine which cranks out 103PS and peak torque of 135Nm, mated to a CVT. Those output numbers are nearly identical to what the K15 motor on the XL6 cranks out. Could be some rivalry then if MG Motor India decides to introduce us to a well-priced MPV.