Kia Motors India had announced in October this year that the Sonet has received more than 50,000 bookings and this when the car was launched in September this year. Kia said that it received an average of two bookings for the Sonet every three minutes. Kia says that 60 per cent of the bookings are for the 1.0 turbo petrol and the 1.2 petrol models while the balance 40 per cent is for diesel models.
The company is witnessing a growing demand for clutchless transmissions
But now the company has also shed light on the fact that clutchless transmission options have seen a hike when it comes to preference. The company stated that 46 per cent of this demand was for the Intelligent Manual Transmission, 7-Speed Dual-Clutch Transmission and of course the 6-speed automatic. Narrowing down further, the company said that 20 per cent demand was for the iMT variants, whereas the remaining 26 per cent was for variants with DCT/AT.
The preference for automatic transmissions is on the rise
Of course, this still means than the majority stake of the bookings was for Sonets with a manual transmission – 54 per cent to be exact. But we do see this trend tilting soon in the favour of automatic gearboxes, because of the ease in drivability and of course the improving pace of technology in this space.
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