The 'AMT' success story Alto K10 to get automatic (AMT) by the end of 2014

Maruti is on a joy ride after the over expected demand for the recently launched hatch Celerio. The car debuted as India's first vehicle to be equipped with automatic manual transmission (AMT). Maruti calls it 'EZ Drive', the car is also the least expensive automatic in the country yet. Maruti has recored over 14,000 booking for the hatch and the best part is that more than half bookings were leaned towards the AMT version, finally Indians are accepting automatics!

Mayank Pareek, COO, marketing and sales, Maruti Suzuki, said, “I had expected around 35per cent of sales to come from the auto gear option. I was very confident of the response, but others had said I was expecting too much. AMT was a completely new technology and untested yet in this market. Now we are trying to increase supply. The demand has been very satisfying.”

Now, after seeing the hefty demand for the AMT, the company is planning to launch the AMT equipped other small hatchs in the lineup. The first one to get the AMT will be the Alto K10, that will be launched by the end of 2014 followed by the Wagon R sometime later. Alto brand cars are the highest selling vehicle in the lineup for the MSI and K10 being the top seller among its siblings, however, the sales of the K10 decreased to 3% in April-January FY14 compared to previous year. Addition of AMT and subtle tweaking will help the vehicle gain what is lost! After the Maruti's success with AMT, it seems like other manufacturers running to incorporate AMT as an option with companies like Tata and Mahindra already announced AMT addition in their portfolio.

Expect the car to be christened as Alto K10 'EZ Drive' and will be powered by the same K10 engine producing 68bhp and 90Nm of max power and torque respectively.

Source: Indian Express

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