Indian Car Industry goes Automatic.The Future-AT

It took nearly two decades for the Indian Consumer to understand the need and importance of an automatic transmission car. Amongst the first few companies to bring Automatic Transmissin to India was Daewoo back in 1997, AT is still the lesser loved one from its sibling Gearbox MT(Manual Transmission) as far as Indian consumer choice is concerned. The shift will happen soon , infact it has started to happen it will turn the tables in the next 7 years in favour of AT provided all the manufacturers understand the need and indian consumer mindset. As on date AT car sales are 1 percent of total car sales in India. 

As always Maruti being the leader introduced a clutch less car which is nothing but an AT car , Celerio- A perfect car , Right segment to hit, and a pricing that couldn't have been better , they have also managed to hit the nerve of Indian consumer, a perfect answer to the question , kitna deti hai ? Claiming an average of 25kmpl , I think Celerio is one of the best combination in an AT any manufacturer has configured till date in india keeping the need of Indian consumer in mind. No one ever thought we could drive an AT on a price of 4 lakhs. For the first time in the history of automobiles in India AT had more bookings than MT , The very first day of launch of Celerio on 6th feb 2014 MUL dealers Booked 1000 cars out of which 51 percent were AT. 

Misconceptions about an Automatic Transmission Car - 

1) It's complicated and difficult to drive- It's a wrong notion , as nothing can be simpler and better than driving an AT , as you don't have to change any gears or press any clutch as there is none. Simply accelerate and brake and stop whenever you want. 

2) Lot of traffic in city what will we do with AT- My dear friends AT is suitable in a more traffic situation as a driver you don't have to change gears again and again and press the clutch at various speeds and while stopping , so you won't feel the fatigue of driving in a traffic situation . 

3) It gives v less mileage - Yes definitely it gives lesser mileage than a MT , but the difference is not much 2-3 kmpl not more than that , on the highway the difference is lesser, this difference is worth the comfort you are get from driving an AT

As a customer our limitations are that we don't have many options to choose from, but the change is definitely coming which can be clearly seen by the demand and sales of Fortuner AT , Verena diesel AT , all high end luxury cars come only in AT versions. Now Maruti has taken a step with Celerio to penetrate into the mass and I am sure MUL will be successful in doing it. The other model and brands AT which comes in various companies are not so successful for two reasons that either they are too expensive or they are only in petrol and that too claiming a v less mileage. The manufacturers need to understand that India is a price sensitive and a kitna Degi obsessed market , till now the manufacturers producing AT small or mid size cars have never focused on these two factors , their thought process is that AT is meant just for the super rich elite class . It's time now the thought process should change. 

The emerging India is young and have a good purchasing power apart from being educated and smart. They need and deserve all the comfort possible. The Auto industry can definately derive much higher volumes in AT cars , only if they start producing diesel AT cars for the mileage sensitive consumers and low priced petrol AT cars for the price sensitive consumer. Current example of successful AT cars with right engine and price configurations are - Fortutner AT price 25 lakhs approx , Ford Eco Sport AT price 10 lakhs approx , Celerio price 4 lakhs approx , All of these cars are over booked and have a waiting period . This clearly shows Indian consumer is smart enough and if the product has the right configuration we have the capacity to buy either it's a 4 lakh product or a 40 lakh product . We call it the power of Emerging Indian Consumer.