Kia India unveils revamped Sonet, deliveries to start by January-March

(From left) Hardeep Singh Brar, Head of Sales & Marketing, Myung-Sik Sohn - Chief Sales and Business Officer and Tae Jin Park, MD and CEO - Kia India at the World Premiere of the revamped Kia Sonet

More than two years after introducing the compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) Sonet in the country, Kia India has come up with its mid-cycle facelift.

While the company didn't reveal the price points of the revamped SUV, it is expected to be rolled out at a starting price of Rs 8 lakh. Buyers will get both petrol and diesel options for the vehicle, which will be taking on Hyundai Venue, Tata Nexon, Maruti Suzuki Brezza etc.

While the pre-bookings of Sonet will commence on December 20, the deliveries will kick off by the first quarter of the next calendar year.

While commenting on the model’s second world premiere in India, Tae-Jin Park, Managing Director and CEO, Kia India, said, "Sonet has transcended borders and is now exported to over 100 countries, where we are proud to have garnered 3.68 lakh customers. Our ambition is to secure the leading position in the Compact SUV segment with the introduction of the new Sonet."

It may be recalled that the outgoing version of the Sonet was globally unveiled in August 2020 .

Kia India Vice President and Head of Marketing and Sales, Hardeep S Brar stated, “This (compact SUV) segment is about 700,000-750,000 units annually. So we've been doing about 13 percent of this segment. Last year, we did about 86,000 units when the segment was lower.  This year, we will close at 80,000 because of the Sonet being phased out and the new version coming in.”

The updated Sonet carries forward the existing 1.2-litre petrol, 1.0-litre turbo-petrol and 1.5-litre diesel engines. It also retains the transmission options such as 5-speed manual, 6-speed manual, 6-speed iMT, 6-speed automatic and a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic.  The company has also re-introduced manual transmission to all the variants with  with diesel powertrain.

Nearly 65 percent of its sales are derived from petrol variant and the remaining 35 percent from diesel.

When queried about the sales target for the model, Brar noted, We have been doing about 80,000-85,000 units on an average and naturally the next milestone will be one lakh units (per annum) next year. It will take us to about 15 percent in this segment.”

Apart from having six airbags as a standard feature, the car has dual screen connected panel design, rear door sunshade curtain, all-door power windows, and Smartpure Air purifier. It is also equipped with a touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a Bose audio system and a semi-digital instrument cluster.

As speculated earlier, the higher variants of the Sonet will be offered with Level 1 ADAS with 10 autonomous features, including Front Collision Avoidance Assist (FCA), Leading Vehicle Departure Alert (LVDA), and Lane Following Assist (LFA), etc.

“The top two trims of Seltos SUV, which is equipped with Level 2 ADAS, accounts for nearly 45 percent of the model’s sales. We feel that even in Sonet, consumer will increasingly opt for ADAS variants,” revealed Brar. However, he clarified that buyers from tier 1 and tier 2 are opting for ADAS-equipped models.

It is to be mentioned that Kia India has sold 3,68,000 units of the Sonet in the country since its launch in September 2020. Of that, nearly 2.84 lakh units were sold in the domestic market and the remaining 84,000 units were exported. In November, the company sold 6,433 units of this model registering an 18 percent year-on-year (YoY) decline.

Kia India, which also sells Carens MPV,  Seltos SUV and EV6 premium electric car, sold 240,000 units last year and is aiming to sell 255,000 units by the end of 2023. It is looking to register a 10 percent growth next year.

“We sell about 65,000-70,000 units of the Carens and around 185,000 units of SUVs.  So 26-27 percent of our sales will be would be from MPVs 73 percent will be SUVs.  As Sonet and Seltos are new models coming in, SUVs will contribute 78 percent of our total sales,” added Brar.