MG Motor India launches NFTs, but why?

MG Motor India has announced its foray into the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) space. With this, the British brand has become the first carmaker in India to launch a collection of NFTs.

Why one might ask.

“We don’t just look at tech as a core brand product but also beyond the product—whether it is the manufacturing process or operations, or the customer interface,” says Gaurav Gupta, chief commercial officer, MG Motor India.

Gupta says MG was the first in the country to start accepting online booking payments two-and-a-half years ago, so the comfort level with using tech has been high in general. “With all this as context, we are also seeing the consumption of art in the digital space, and the NFT space is still new and emerging, and we see potential in that. So, we challenged our team, let’s look at how we can explore this.”

Why NFTs in particular? That is because MG is almost a century-old brand, and its progress is closely tied up with world history and industrialisation too—which may attract hobbyists and serious collectors. “We can get a lot of purchases with what we have in our basket. We are a 97-year-old brand. We have got a lot of heritage and collectable stuff with us which will be of great interest to collectors as we take it forward. There may be a lot of individualised, customised AI-enabled art that can appeal to many, too. So, we said let's get into the NFT space. We believe this is a timely way to start seeding in and help to democratise it further. So, people can own a piece of MG through a piece of digital art.”

MG will be dealing in INR rather than crypto and has chosen to work with KoineArth—which has created a customised platform for MG called EngageN, where transactions will be INR-based. The collection will come with a unique certificate of authentication for buyers using blockchain technology. Transactions will also be GST-compliant. It will be as Gupta puts it ‘clean and safe.’

KoineArth's marketsN platform is an enterprise-grade solution for digital supply chains, their website says.

The MG NFT collection will go on sale starting December 28 at noon with—1,111 units of digital creatives as part of the launch collection. The NFTs will be categorised into 4 ‘C’ segments: collectables, community and diversity, collaborative art, and CaaP (car-as-a-platform).

“The intention is that this will be all fixed price, to begin with, rather than an auction because this is not about profit maximisation, it's for people to get into thinking of owning digital art and encouraging more and more people to enter into the creative economy,” Gupta explains.

The proceeds from this maiden sale will go towards supporting community service under MG SEWA. MG believes it is helping to kick off something that will evolve and where collaborations will become increasingly popular.

KoineArth’s founder Praphul Chandra, says, “our association with MG Motor in its debut voyage into the NFT is an exciting moment for us. At KoineArth, we are committed to creating immortal legacies for the most-loved brands through credible NFTs.”