Maruti Suzuki has already sold more than 3 lakh vehicles with AMT transmission in just 5 years; planning to sell another 2 lakh units this FY
Indian customers’ perception towards automatic transmission changed with the introduction of Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) in Celerio, as it offers similar efficiency as manual models and is being cost efficient also. Currently, AMT transmission is offered in seven models across Maruti Suzuki’s range.
Maruti Suzuki has already sold more than 3 lakh vehicles with AMT transmission within five years years as the company is planning to sell more than 2 lakh units of AMT cars this fiscal year. R Kalsi, Senior Executive Director at Maruti Suzuki said that “It is one such innovation that offers comfort and ease of driving to the customers with no compromise on fuel efficiency”.
Most of the competitors are also focusing on AMT transmission to drive growth further as Tata Motor believes that five years down the line, every second car sold in India will be equipped with AMT. The company offers AMT in Nexon, Tiago and Tigor as these models accounts for 25 percent of sales.
Tata Motors will introduce AMT transmission in future models also as it is key for growth. Hyundai is India’s second largest car manufacturer, but the company is late to AMT party as the first product from Korean manufacturer equipped with AMT will be the upcoming Santro, which will be introduced next month.
But Hyundai is already offering proper automatic gearbox with most of the models, which is expensive compared to AMT. But people are accepting it as the company has sold 27,029 units of vehicles with AT in the first six months accounting for 9.8 percent of the total sales. Over the years, the percentage of AT vehicles has improved from 4 percent in 2015 to 7 percent in 2016.
Last year, it has increased to 8 percent and the company is expecting good growth this year on the back of new Santro. Except Eon, Hyundai is offering automatic option in all models and Verna is the cheapest AT diesel sedan in the country. Like developed markets, India is also slowly moving towards automatic cars.