Kia Sonet unveiled in India: All you need to know

Expected for a while

It has been some time in the making but it's finally here or rather we have got our hands on all the details of the 2024 New Kia Sonet facelift and here is everything that you need to know about the compact SUV.

Variants Explained

First things first, bookings for the Sonet will open on December 20, though the booking amount has not been revealed. It will be offered in seven variants across three engine options with the 1.5-litre diesel seeing the return of a full-fledged manual gearbox after almost a year. These variants include HTE, HTK, HTX, HTX+, GTX and the X-Line trim level.

Exterior highlights

On the outside, the Sonet gets a new grille, tri-beam LED headlamps and rectangular DRLs that give the car a sharp look. In profile, the Sonet now gets body-coloured door handles and a completely new design for the 16-inch alloy wheels. The rear retains the same shape as before but now gets an LED lightbar connecting both ends of the vehicle. In all, the exterior changes of the Sonet give the car a much-needed leg up in what is currently India’s most competitive SUV battleground.

The Sonet will be offered in eight single-tone colour schemes and two dual-tone colour schemes including a colour called Pewter olive that’s been taken from the Seltos. The X-Line trim continues with the matte grey colour scheme.

Interior and features highlights

The cabin of the Kia Sonet has been retained in terms of elements and layout but you now get a powered driver’s seat, a new fully digital instrument cluster, a new interface for the climate control system and a 10.25-inch display for the infotainment system which is now button free. These are changes along the lines of what was seen on the Kia Seltos a few months ago.

The pewter olive colour has been given as an optional extra while the biggest change in the feature is that the Sonet now gets level-1 ADAS. It has 10 different features and in addition, you get a blind spot monitor. Kia has also upped the connected car features and in addition to a voice-controlled sunroof you also get voice control for the windows.

On the safety front, all versions get six airbags, ABS with EBD, ESC, and Highline TPMS. ADAS is only offered on the top-spec variants, though if we go by the Seltos’ progress then we can expect it in at least one more lower-spec model going forward.

Powertrain options

The Kia Sonet will continue with its three engine options. The base is the 1.2 petrol producing 82bhp/115Nm and offered with a five-speed MT. The more powerful petrol is a 1.0-litre GDi turbo producing 118bhp/172Nm and can be had with a six-speed iMT or a seven-speed DCT. Finally, the diesel is Kia’s 1.5-litre unit producing 114bhp/250Nm and can be had with a six-speed MT, six-speed iMT or a six-speed AT.

Competition check

The Kia Sonet is a big player in the segment with major numbers since its launch in 2020. It takes on the Maruti Brezza, Maruti Fronx, Hyundai Venue and Tata Nexon which is the latest car to get an update and matches the Sonet on multiple fronts. We expect Kia to announce prices for the Sonet in early January and deliveries to the first few buyers on that day itself.