Demand for automatic cars has witnessed a steep rise in India with 1 in every 10 cars sold in the country being an automatic. According to a report published by Nielsen and Frost & Sullivan, with automatic cars already accounting for 10% of all cars sold in India and even more automatic car launches planned in the near future, this percentage is expected to continue increasing.
As compared to 2015 figures, where automatic cars accounted for only 6% of all cars sold in India, this jump to the 10% mark recorded during the January to March quarter of 2016 is unprecedented. In fact, subsequent to this report, automatic car sales volumes are expected to touch the 2 lakh level by the end of 2016. One of the key reasons for the increased sales of automatic transmission vehicles is the introduction of AMT (automatic manual transmission), which is much cheaper than the traditional automatic transmission technology.
Leading car models that are driving sales of the automatic vehicles in the Indian market include Tata and Tiago, Renault KWID as well as others. Among car makers, Maruti Suzuki, the pioneer of AMT tech in India (called AGS – automatic gear shift) seems to be best positioned to reap the benefits of this rapidly increasing demand. The key Maruti Suzuki models that feature its AGS technology include Dzire, WagonR, Celerio and Alto, while the more expensive CVT (continuously variable transmission) technology is featured in Maruti Suzuki’s Baleno and Ciaz.