Kia Sonet’s new gearbox could spell problems for AMTs: Launch around October with many segment-first features

Express Drives recently had an insightful interaction with Manohar Bhat, Head, Sales and Marketing, Kia Motors India. Beyond the struggles during Covid-19 times, Bhat gave us an insight into new models such as the Kia Sonet, business plans and more. Here is what all Kia Motors has in store for its customers in the near future and what you can expect as a buyer.

Kia Sonet

As the world continues to fight with the Coronavirus the economic toll in addition to that of human lives is hitting almost every economy hard. The automotive sector is one of those to have been hit the most in the last few months of the pandemic. In order to understand the present impact and the road map for recovery we have been interacting with industry captains from the sector and recently we spoke to Manohar Bhat, Head, Sales and Marketing, Kia Motors India. Beyond the struggles during Covid-19 times Bhat also gave us an insight into new models such as the Kia Sonet, business plans and a lot more. Mentioned below is an excerpt from the conversation. The entire conversation can be viewed in the video in this article.

Express Drives – The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the automotive sector in a very negative manner, but has Kia been hit even harder being one of the newest entrants in the Indian automotive market?

Manohar Bhat – I would say yes and no. No, because we are young as a company, the dealers also are young in terms of business duration with us. So in that case, I believe we are more flexible in thought and action and we can make changes more quickly than well-established manufacturers who have been around for years and years. So to that extent, we are in a better position because we are new. But having said that the flip side is that yes, we had just started off. We just started our business.

One of the biggest concerns for a lot of people, especially a lot of enthusiasts and potential buyers is that will this current pandemic crisis affect the launch of new models, especially something like the Sonet which people are really looking forward to. So do you see new model launches being affected?

It’s a short answer. Absolutely not. In the fact of the matter, when we launched the Seltos, many people asked me a similar question. Like are you sure you’re launching it at the correct time as the industry is going down? So that time I had given them an answer, which I believe still holds good today. What I told them is there is no bad time to launch an extremely good product. Similarly, we think the same thing is true for the Sonet, a sub-four-meter SUV. It will be an excellent vehicle, it could be a class leader in terms of design, features, and obviously quality also. So we are sticking to our earlier commitment to launching a vehicle every six months. The last launch that was in February-March so six months down the line that is in September- October is when you can expect our next vehicle launch. So we are committed to keeping this schedule and come the festival season, you’ll have the Sonet also being launched for sure.

Manohar Bhat, Head, Sales and Marketing, Kia Motors India

Recently, the government came up with a slew of announcements wherein they claimed that their packages will benefit the industry. What is your view on the packages announced by the government with respect to the automotive industry?

I think the government has done a lot of good things in terms of increasing the liquidity available in the economy to the banks but unfortunately, the demand side of it is still not being seen. Activities to increase the demand, for MSMEs is a good thing that the government has done but MSMEs also will fear to actually start their business in a big way unless they see demand coming in. Frankly, we’re not seeing any demand coming in because I believe that the customer who pays up is not feeling safe enough or rich enough to go and buy something. I think we had a discussion internally amongst our members also so we had recommended a GST reduction within a short term for two or three months maybe, a limited period scheme that can really work wonders. However, the government, I believe in its wisdom is unable to provide for any GST cut.

Watch this full interview in this video:

I think we would also like to recommend that the government should look for something like a tax break for individuals to purchase cars like they give to the corporates. So for a customer also, if I buy a vehicle obviously, it is good for me for 5 years or 10 years so there is some depreciation for me also. So we can give a tax break to the customers, something like depreciation for the corporates to buy cars. Also, like a home loan is given tax breaks so can we give auto loans also tax breaks. And also, the scrappage policy that the Government has been talking about for a couple of years now, I think of they can implement it early as that can be of great benefit to the customer and industry as well. I think the government should seriously look at the auto industry as it is a huge employment generator and currently dealers are not able to employ their full staff with layoffs. So the Government should take some steps to push the demand further in the economy and also the auto industry. We believe that what comes into one industry obviously goes to another industry so it’s a win-win situation for everyone. I think the quicker the government does something on this front, the better it is for the overall economy also.

One question that we and the enthusiasts have in mind. Apart from the Sonet, what new models can we expect in the near future, or maybe any new segments that Kia is planning to enter?

The Sonet is going to be the next big thing for the simple reasons that its exterior is drop-dead gorgeous and we got good reviews when we exhibited during the Auto Expo 2020. Also, in terms of interiors and technology, it is going to have many segment firsts. For instance, , it will have a clutchless manual gear system that no other vehicle today has got. It will be very interesting and convenient for the customers. You don’t have to use your leg or feet by pressing the clutch but at the same time one can shift manually if in a enthusiastic mood to drive as it doesn’t exhibit lag like AMTs do. It’s a very practical and good feature. It will have a lot of segment-first features that the customers can really look forward to. In addition to that, the quality that people have already seen in the Seltos and the Carnival and are speaking about it is the third pillar for us and the Sonet is going to be a very tough competitor for other vehicles in the segment.

Kia Telluride

Next what? Pre-pandemic, we had a variety of ideas. The Telluride won the WCOTY or the World Car of the Year award and also the Soul EV which has been the urban car of the year. So we have got many features and products in our international portfolio which I am sure the Indian customers would love to see. My personal favourite is Telluride. The vehicle is fantastic and goes well with the Kia branding here in India. We have got many ideas so you rather wait and watch.

After your previous answer, I am sure that the customers would want to know a bit more about the clutchless manual gear system that you spoke about? How different it will be and what it would offer?

Unless you experience it, it is quite difficult to explain it in words. But in simple terms, imagine a system in which you have manual gears as it is, you have a gear stick and you like engaging gears so you have that option. Now, in order to engage a gear, you normally have to press the clutch. So imagine that there is no clutch so that your left foot can rest in peace on the floor of the vehicle as you don’t have to press the clutch every now and then. So in heavy traffic, you will not experience any foot or leg stress at all. So you get an engaging driving experience, high fuel-efficiency and you remove stress.

Is this like an AMT gearbox?

No, this is a bit different. In AMT, you don’t have that enjoyment of shifting gears. I am a driving enthusiast, I love driving so I like changing gears when I am driving and it feels like you control the vehicle better. So the control is still there but the stress of pressing the clutch is not there and I think it is the best of both worlds. There is an added advantage of enhanced fuel efficiency so that will obviously will be another advantage.

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