 "Maruti Celerio to meet demand for auto gears")
The Celerio is available in four manual transmission variants priced at Rs 3.9-4.96 lakh and two automatic transmission variants priced at Rs 4.29 lakh and Rs 4.59 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Company executives said Maruti planned to sell 10,000 units of the car every month.
Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director and chief executive, MSIL, said, “Celerio will cater to the growing demand for vehicles with automatic gear shift at an affordable price.”
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Hyundai’s Grandi10 and Honda Brio’s automatic versions are priced at Rs 6.04 lakh and Rs 6.19 lakh, respectively. Currently, automatic transmission version of cars in the market were priced Rs 1-1.2 lakh more than their manual-transmission variants, said a Maruti Suzuki executive. Given the price difference between the Celerio variants is only Rs 39,000, the company expects 25-30 per cent of sales to be accounted for by automatic transmission variants. “In metros, the proportion could be much higher — as much as 50 per cent of the sales could be accounted for by automatic transmission variants,” Ayukawa said.
Mayank Pareekh, chief operating officer (marketing & sales), MSIL, said, “We had seen for models such as the A-Star, 25-30 per cent of the enquiries were for automatic transmission variants. However, conversion rates were low and sales of the version would remain limited to five-six per cent of overall numbers…With Celerio, which has been developed at an investment of about Rs 570 crore, with the auto gear shift EZ Drive technology, we have resolved those issues.”
Celerio auto gear shift variants will have both the manual as well as auto-drive modes in the same car. MSIL said the Celerio would offer fuel efficiency of 23.1 km/litre, on a par with manual transmission variants.
Manufacturers such as Tata Motors and Hyundai Motor India are also considering introducing products with advanced automatic transmission systems. On Monday, Tata Motors unveiled the Zest, which has an automatic diesel variant. The company is also considering launching an automatic transmission variant of small car Nano. Hyundai has said its new Xcent will have an automatic transmission variant.
Earlier last month, Honda launched a continuous variable transmission variant for the latest model of the City. Through the last few years, worsening traffic conditions have led to high demand for automatic transmission technology in India.