Cars With Automatic Transmission Are Here To Stay

Cars with automatic transmission are gaining ground in the India. Hardly a few people had heard of automatic transmission in cars a few years ago. Unlike the West, the car drivers here were fond of manual transmission more and to meet their requirements the Indian car market here was full of cars with manual transmission system. People wanted to feel the pleasure of driving and thus stayed away from buying cars with automatic transmission.

While driving, an automatic transmission system in a car does not require a driver’s intervention. The driver just needs to only use the acceleration and brake pedals, and can enjoy the drive without changing the gears. Interestingly, 95% of car buyers in the United States go for cars that have automatic transmission. However, it did not appeal to customers for long here. Now those days are gone. The cars with automatic transmission are gaining popularity, particularly among the women.

Basically the concept of automatic transmission in cars is still new to India. In fact, the cars with automatic transmission are different from those with manual transmission in terms of power, acceleration, fuel economy, and driving comfort.  Women are feeling they are easy is to drive and are buying such cars especially in urban areas. Consequently, the demand for such cars has gone up and the car manufacturers are launching the automatic variants of their models.

Women are finding automatic transmission good because of its smooth shifting capabilities. The occupants enjoy a jerk-free ride and the fuel economy of the car also sees an improvement. Some customers are even go for both manual and automatic switch options.

Some of the cars with automatic transmission that are popular in the country are as follows:

• Mahindra & Mahindra launched the automatic version of Scorpio in 2008. The Scorpio AT comes with a complete 6-speed automatic gearbox and the powerful 2.2 litre mHawk engine. Being a flagship model of Mahindra & Mahindra, the Scorpio is also the first sport utility vehicle (SUV) to be equipped with a 6-speed automatic transmission in the country.

• Leading Japanese car maker Honda is released its variants with automatic transmissions Civic, Accord, City and the CR-V to the Indian market and they are being widely well received by the customers here.

• American auto major General Motors is offering a four-speed automatic gearbox option for the Chevrolet Optra. Its Captiva LTZ comes with a five-speed automatic transmission.

• Hyundai’s small car Santro Xing comes with automatic transmission and an H-matic four-speed automatic transmission is available in the Sonata 2.7 V6 variant.

• Maruti Udyog’s Wagon R and the Esteem also feature a three-speed automatic transmission system.

• As a special offer on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Hyundai released the automatic version of the Santro. It was a limited version which witnessed huge sales and thus Hyundai was able to find out the target customers for its automatic models.

• Hyundai's i20, Chevrolet Captiva (AT version), Fiat's Linea, Honda City, Mitsubishi Outlander, Mahindra Scorpio and Mitsubishi Outlander are the other models that feature automatic transmission.

• The Hyundai i10 has been one of the most popular cars with automatic transmission. It received a great response from women. Other than i10, Verna from the sedan segment also comes with automatic transmission.

Encouraged by the growing demand for such cars, the car manufacturers are now offering five to six speed automatic transmission systems which deliver better fuel-efficiency clubbed with improved pick up and performance. All these things indicate that the trend of automatic transmission cars is here to stay and have proved the notions of many people who have predicted that such cars will not be a success here.