India has always been regarded as a strong automobile market for global automobile manufacturers. With improvement in technology and rising economy more and more Indians are opting for cars with good features. In earlier times, cars with automatic transmission were not much relied upon by the users due to its high ownership costs. Many preferred opting for manual version which has been almost hassle free for generations. With improved technology trends seem to be changing as more and more buyers are opting for cars with automatic transmission that are not just reliable, but also fuel efficient in most cases.
As per reports nearly about 98% of sales have come-in from manual transmission vehicles, whereas automatic have only sold well with luxury brands in the country. A major shift in the trend has been witnessed since the AMT technology laden Maruti Suzuki Celerio made its debut in the country earlier this year. Apart from the cost factor, factors like easy driving and comfort in congested city road has also lead buyers to opt for cars with the automatic transmission. As per reports about 40% increase in sales for Celerio hatchback has been noted in recent times. Moreover, the AMT Celerio variant just costs about Rs. 39,000 extra as compared to the manual version.
In recent times, it is also interesting to see how various car-makers in the country have been providing with automatic transmission options with the newer fleet from their respective production lines. Moving forward, Maruti Suzuki expects about half of the total sales to come from automatic variants across its line in coming times.
Source: ET
