Indian car market to comprise of 30 per cent AMT cars by 2020

According to a latest report, 30 per cent of the cars sold in India will be equipped with AMT (automated manual transmission). Currently, only one to two per cent of passenger cars sold in India are AMT cars.

It was at the start of this year when Maruti Suzuki launched the Celerio with the AMT gearbox, making it the first car to be equipped with AMT. It was followed by Tata's new compact sedan, the Zest, and the recent launch of the facelifted Maruti Suzuki Alto K10. Both the cars are also available with the AMT technology, the latter, at present, being the most affordable AMT car in the country .

With the debut of the AMT in the Celerio, there seems to be no stopping in the supply of the gearbox to Maruti and Tata. The AMT technology has become popular among the Indian customers. No wonder the demand for AMT cars has gone up considerably. With many manufacturers planning to adopt this technology we can expect more entry-level cars to be equipped with this technology. AMT Nano from Tata and an entry-level car from Renault equipped with AMT are in the pipeline.

Saju Mookken, Magneti Marelli India’s managing director and country manager, said, "It took three years for the company to convince carmakers in India to use the AMT kit, but it is now facing a supply crunch because of huge demand. Looking at the traffic congestion and increase in young self-driver buyers, it will certainly grow. Currently, around one to two per cent of total passenger vehicles would have automated transmission, but I expect this to increase to 30 per cent by 2020. It will be mostly commanded by the AMT solution."

Source: ET