The 3rd product from Kia has now been revealed for the Indian market. The Kia Sonet is a compact-SUV and it will rival the likes of Hyundai Venue, Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Mahindra XUV300, Tata Nexon and Ford EcoSport. The launch is still a few weeks away, and the Kia Sonet will be positioned under the Seltos SUV in the brands portfolio. The Sonet was first revealed as a concept at the 2020 Auto Expo in India. The brand calls it ‘Wild By Design’. The Kia Sonet is Made-in-India and will be sold worldwide. The brand says that the design was inspired from a baby elephant. Kia reveals that the production of the Sonet stays unhampered because of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
The Kia Sonet is the second Made In India product after the South Korean brand’s bestseller, the Kia Seltos and integrates a number of design inspirations from India namely the radiator grille which draws its inspiration from the Chand Baori Stepwell and also offer features keeping in mind the Indian weather such as ventilated front row driver and passenger seats.
Feature highlights of the Kia Sonet on the outside include 16″ alloy wheels, LED DRLs with LED headlamps, projector front fog lamps, LED tail lamps with a connecting LED strip on the tailgate, roof rails, body cladding, signature tiger nose front grille with knurled finish, roof rails, red accents on the outside for the GT Line variants, dual tone paint options, rear diffuser effect and chrome window sills.
On the inside, the Kia Sonet will come with features such as a 10.25″ touchscreen infotainment, digital + analogue speedometer cluster, automatic climate control, electric sunroof, leather upholstery, ventilated seats, sound mood ambient lights, wireless charging, air purifier which can also protect from viruses, Bose 7-speaker sound system, adjustable headrests, rear parcel tray with recess, etc. The infotainment will also get over the air updates and will also have a remote engine start function for the manual as well as automatic gearbox variants.
The Sonet will be sold with the latest iMT intelligent manual transmission without a clutch which we have also seen on the Hyundai Venue. The Sonet apart from the 6-speed iMT will also have a DCT automatic gearbox option and there will be a total of 3 engine options on offer. Also, a total of 3 automatic gearbox options will be on offer which includes DCT and a torque converter automatic along with the previously mentioned iMT. 1.2L petrol, 1.0L turbo-petrol and 1.5L turbo-diesel BS6 compliant engines will be on offer. The manual gearboxes will be either a 5-speed or a 6-speed depending on the engine that you pick. Exact specifications are not yet revealed, but these engines are already on offer on Hyundai cars in India. While the powertrains may be shared with other Hyundai cars, the Kia Sonet’s dynamics and suspension set-up have been tuned by Kia engineers keeping in mind the sporty and youthful customer base that it has been targeted towards.
For safety, the Kia Sonet will come with up to 6 airbags, ABS with EBD, traction control, driving modes, front and rear reverse parking sensors, reverse parking camera, speed alert system, Hill-start Assist Control, Vehicle Stability Management, Brake Assist, projector fog lamps, auto headlamps, TPMS, ISOFIX and the Sonet has been built using 2/3 high strength and advanced high strength steel.
The Kia Sonet has been designed and developed ground-up by Kia Motors India and Kia’s global R&D headquarters in South Korea and the production model has been worked upon with extensive market inputs from India, especially in the engine and transmission tuning characteristics. Kia engineers also tested the prototype Sonet over 100,000 kilometres across diverse terrain, driving situations, and climatic conditions.
Kia promises to launch a new car every 6-9 months in the Indian market.
