Automatic cars fail to gear up Indian imagination

Despite efforts from the Indian car makers, automatic transmission (AT) cars do not enjoy the same attention here that they do in the developed countries. Out of the total number of cars sold in the country, only 1-2 per cent feature automatic transmission, while for Europe it is 60 per cent and for the US it is 90 per cent, which far out number India.

Automatic transmission enables drivers to drive the car without worrying about using the clutch and shifting gears.

According to Indian car makers, higher price tags and marginally higher fuel consumption are the major factors that shies away the Indian car buyer from automatic cars. Auto experts feel that lack of information and experience in driving automatic car also contribute to the factor.

"None of the learning schools use automatics and prospective buyers think they need to learn something new to drive an automatic - which is not true'', says another expert.

"Price premium and drop in fuel efficiency are the main reasons for low popularity. Customers are not willing to pay that adequate extra money or accept higher fuel consumption of cars with automatic transmission as opposed to cars with manual transmission. Even in small and low medium segment, where the capability of customer to spend is more, the share of automatic transmission option is low," said P Balendran, vice-president, General Motors.

Most Indian car makers build the automatic versions of their popular cars only against orders.

According to dealers, in addition to those who come specifically for automatic cars, they get enquiries from physically challenged people, who can hit the road without much hassle, thanks to the automatic gearbox. Some of the automatic cars are further customised for such users at the dealer level. Maruti used to import an auto version of the Maruti 800 with hand controls in the early nineties but do not do so any more.

"The reason for higher pricing is, because the car makers have to import gear boxes for AT cars, as they cannot be assembled in the country due to low mass acceptance for such cars here. As the gear boxes cannot be assembled on a mass scale, the cars become more expensive," said a leading auto analyst in the country.

In India, the difference between an automatic car and its manual cousin is about Rs 75,000-Rs 1 lakh. Take the case of Maruti's Wagon R - the AT version of the car is priced at Rs 5.71 lakh, while its manual AX version (Bharat III) is priced only at Rs 4.96 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai).

Similarly, the Hyundai Santro AT version is priced at Rs 4.5 lakh, as against the Santro XK and XL, which are priced at Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 3.77 lakh respectively. However, when it comes to larger cars, the difference is marginal - the new Hyundai Sonata AT is priced at Rs 15.36 lakh, as against Rs 14.36 lakh for a regular model.

The only cars in the Hyundai stable with automatic gear box are the Santro and the new Sonata. Hyundai sold 171 Hyundai Sonatas in the April-October period of 2005 as against 66 models in the corresponding period of the previous year. The company's Santro AT sales for the period declined by 4 per cent, to 491 compared to 512 cars in the previous corresponding period. Hyundai has been able to sell more than one lakh manual transmission cars for the period.

The country's largest car maker, Maruti sold about 250 Wagon R models of its AT version during the period April-October 2005 as against 200 in the previous corresponding period. But the company sold more than 3 lakh manual transmission cars for the same period.

Tata Motors does not make any AT models considering the low demand. The trend differs when it comes to top end cars like Mercedes Benz and the D-segment offering from Skoda.

At this level, the AT versions sell in much larger proportion. About 15 per cent of the total cars sold by Skoda in India are automatics. Out of the total number of cars sold by DaimlerChrysler in the country, 40 per cent are AT models.

These cars are priced at Rs 3-4 lakh above their manual transmission versions. Luxury car maker BMW, imports and sells only cars equipped with automatic gear boxes unless they are performance cars like the M3 and M5 as driving enthusiasts still prefer to shift gears themselves.

"Cars like the Mercedes Benz E Class and the BMW are mostly chauffeur driven. The chauffers are not very good at shifting gears. Hence, the owners of these cars prefer only AT cars as they offer a smoother rear seat experience," said an auto expert.

As a result, one can see only BMWs and E class cars with the AT feature in the country.