Here are some revelations – cars with automatic transmission account for 2%-5% of the total car sales in India. The figure for U.S. stands at 85% while Japan leads with 95% of overall car sales.
Maruti Celerio with its new AMT, it seems, is about to turn the car-sale stats on its head. Maruti hopes for a 30% increase in the sales of auto-gearbox vehicles in the coming years. The AMT system in the Celerio has been developed in collaboration with Magneti Marelli and is as fuel efficient as the Celerio with manual transmission. It is also quite economical in terms of production and ownership costs. In fact, the Celerio AMT has a price tag which is just INR 39,000 more than the Celerio Manual.
Magneti Marelli, who has perfected the art and science of AMT on F1 circuits, and the client Maruti-Suzuki, have somehow managed to deliver a transfer case that satiates the insistent desire of an average Indian driver to eek the max out from every liter of fossil fuel he puts into the tank. The Celerio, both manual and AMT, have been tested returning an enviable fuel consumption of 23.1 kmpl. Moreover, the AMT, in general, is claimed to reduce your fuel bills by 10%-15% as compared to the full-time Automatic.
Until recently, fully automatic vehicles of Maruti have comprised just 2%-3% of their annual total sales, with an accusing finger pointed at the high ownership cost of their fully-automatic variants. The fully-auto cars have also been blamed for being consumptive when compared with the manual.
The AMT, however, changes all that. The industry buffs perceive a healthy 20% growth of AMT-equipped passenger vehicles within 5 to 6 years. In fact, nationwide, the AMT Celerio is already outselling its manual variant according to a report by Zigwheels.com. This is despite the fact that out of the total of 6 trims, Maruti has lent AMT only on two variants and it doesn’t come on the top-of-the-line ZXI trim! We believe it will come at some point in time later!
Check out specs, prices, colours and other launch details of Celerio here. We are sharing a list of upcoming AMT cars later today. Keep tuned!
Also Check Out: What is Celerio’s AMT (Auto Gear Shift) and How Does It Work?
