Morris Garages has finally unveiled its highly anticipated Hector SUV. Said to be the first model from the British automaker, the Hector will launch in the Indian market by June.
The Hector has been built to withstand extreme road conditions and tested for over one million kilometers in India before entering production at the company’s plant in Halol, Gujarat, earlier this month.
Spotted in the flesh many times, the MG Hector looks massive especially when viewed head on. The grille upfront looks massive and is flanked by slim daytime running lights which also double up as side turn indicators. The actual headlamp is placed lower down in the bumper, where large c-shaped chrome establishments are also present with a large air dam and a skid plate. Move around to the side and you begin to notice the strong waistline that starts from just after the front door and runs down to the rear. The Hector also gets well pronounced wheel arches but the wheels look a tad small. At the rear the Hector gets swoopy taillamps and a heavy bumper design with skid plate and fog lights as well.
The interior of the Hector is finished in high quality materials and receives an all black trim with subtle chrome highlights. The dashboard houses a massive 10.24 inch touchscreen infortainment system that will come loaded to the gills with tech but more on that later. MG has also packaged the Hector with plenty of space with a full flat floor at the second row, 587 litres boot space and a one touch height adjustable powered tailgate.
In terms of features apart from its connectivity and Industry first tech on offer, the Hector will come with 8-way adjustable powered driver seat, 4-way adjustable co-driver seat, 60:40 split rear seat with reclining function, 8-colour ambient lighting, heated outside rear view mirrors, 360 degree reverse camera, dual pane panoramic sunroof, cruise control, rain sensing wipers and more. It also employs a Premium sound system by Infinity with 4 speakers, 4 tweeters, a subwoofer and amplifier on offer and a full LED lighting package that includes the headlamps, fog lamps, daytime running lights, taillamps, rear fog lights and floating turn indicators.
Where most carmakers boast on the long feature list present on their respective models USP, the Hector goes one step further and offers seamless connectivity features. It makes use of an embedded sim that is 5G ready to gain access to the apps and entertainment updates. The I-smart application offers almost 50+ connected features along with Artificial Intelligence, smart applications and Voice assist and has been developed with tech giants such as Microsoft and Cisco.
The MG Hector also gets a 7inch MID digital coloured MID screen in the instrument cluster that reads out information such as Phone, Navigation, Music and more…
MG owners can also gain access to a series of weather, entertainment, Pulse hub, online navigation and app Convience features. Also part of the package will be remote app operation and app safety and security services to ensure that their MG is in the best condition and always in control at all times.
Powering the Hector will be a 1.5 litre petrol in standard guise and a 2.0 litre diesel. The 1.5 litre petrol in standard turbo charged form makes 141bhp and 250 Nm of torque. On the flipside the turbo charged 2.0 litre diesel churns out 170PS and 350 Nm of torque. Transmission options include for both the standard petrol and  diesel includes  a 6-speed manual while the petrol benefits from a dual clutch automatic transmission.
A 48 volt mild hybrid paired to a 1.5 litre petrol  will also be on offer on the petrol Hector with three functions, Engine start/stop, Regenerative braking and E-boost. The motor will produce 143bhp and 250 Nm of torque and comes mated to a 6-speed manual transmission. The system employs a lithium ion battery that stores the energy collected during various cycles including and provides assistance of upto 20 Nm of torque whenever necessary.
Speaking about safety, the Hector gets hot stamped high tensile steel used near the b-pillar and thick door panels measuring 0.7mm and 1.4mm in thickness. Other safety features such as tyre pressure monitoring system, ISOFIX child seat anchorages, 6 airbags; Electronic stability program, electronic parking brake, hill hold control, traction control system and ABS with EBD and brake assist are also on the safety feature list.
MG has also disclosed that the brand will have 120 outlets across 50 cities and will expand the figure to 250 by September. The British automaker is also in the process of setting up a dealership in Goa that will be operational by month end, while bookings will begin early next month with the start date to be announced soon.
