Unlike the conventional automatic transmission, the AMT with Maruti’s brilliant ‘Auto Gear Shift’ marketing campaign has successfully been accepted by the market. This resulted in Maruti falling short of meeting demand for the AMT. This resulted in Maruti bringing the AMT technology to their bread and butter model, the Alto, in the K10 variant. The Alto K10 is now the cheapest automatic model available in India. Not just Maruti, Tata also came up with a segment best formula; an AMT mated to a diesel engine. This makes the Tata Zest the cheapest diesel automatic compact sedan in India. Many more AMT models are soon to enter the Indian market to cash-in on the positive response.
So what is an AMT? Here are some quick facts:
- You cannot retro-fit an AMT kit, it has to be factory-fitted
- It costs much cheaper than a conventional automatic gearbox, hence pricing is very competitive for AMT models
- It is cheaper because the manual transmission need not be replaced, you just need the AMT system in place along with the same manual transmission
- It was first used in a Ferrari in 1986
- AMT means Automated Manual Transmission
- AMT cars do have a clutch, but no clutch pedal for the driver
- AMT operates with a hydraulic system and an electronic control unit
- It is no different than a manual transmission, just that the gearshifts are made without driver input
- AMT can be more fuel efficient than manual transmission at times shifting at the optimum RPM, unlike conventional automatics which are less fuel efficient
- AMT has a little lag during gearshifts, but a conventional automatic is almost seamless