The AMT trend is catching up thick and fast! Apart from the existing cars which are driven by the Automated Manual Transmission, new manufacturers are expected to join the bandwagon plonking this cheaper alternate to Automatic gearboxes on a lot of their cars.
A report at Autocar claims that Hyundai is working on an AMT box for their B-segment hatchback Grand i10. This is a little surprising as the car already comes with a 4-speed automatic gearbox mated to the 1.2 liter petrol engine (price Rs 6.26 Lac ex-showroom Delhi). If this reports goes true, Hyundai may offer this clutchless tech at much cheaper prices to become more competitive in the market.
Apart from this, they also say that Next-Gen Eon is headed our way which will also come along with an AMT gearbox. These gearboxes will be sourced from ZF Sachs instead of Magnetti Marelli which is the vendor for Maruti and Tata.
We may have limited options in this cheaper automatic AMT segment at the moment, but there are truck loads of them coming up. Tata is preparing their Nano GenX which is scheduled to be launched within a few days and will be the cheapest automatic car in the country. Renault is also making a giant leap with their small car codenamed as XBA (speculated commercial name – Kayou) which will also get an AMT box (sourced from ZF) on an all-new 800cc petrol engine.
I would like to have the opportunity to drive this fantastic model.