The hot-selling Kia Seltos was launched last year and has been at the top of the compact SUV segment, thereby helping the South Korean premium carmaker from the Hyundai Motor Group form a strong foothold in the Indian car market. Not just this, obviously, encouraged by the success of its maiden offering, the company even introduced the Carnival MPV as its second product earlier this year at the Auto Expo 2020. Moreover, the carmaker also premiered the concept avatar of the Sonet, which is the company’s upcoming sub-4-metre SUV. Once launched, the production version of the Kia Sonet will be the smallest and the most affordable SUV in its carmaker’s portfolio and will lock horns with a handful of well-established models like the Maruti Vitara Brezza, Ford EcoSport, Mahindra XUV300 and Tata Nexon. It will even go on to rival the upcoming Nissan Magnite. Ahead of the official debut on August 7, the Sonet has been listed on the official website of Kia Motors India.
Needless to say, the upcoming Kia Sonet will go on to play a very important role in enabling the globally successful carmaker to grab a bigger share of the market. It gets important to mention here that the Seltos while selling in decent numbers, is still a sufficiently premium market that is priced much higher than affordable SUVs like the Maruti Vitara Brezza. Moreover, the Carnival costs roughly twice of Seltos, which makes it even more inaccessible. The Sonet, however, will be sold in the entry-level SUV segment and its affordable pricing will definitely help the carmaker bring more buyers under its umbrella. That said, it gets important to mention here that the Sonet will be among the costliest SUVs in its segment, with prices likely to range from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 13 lakh (ex-showroom).
As we have been saying, the Kia Sonet will share many components with the Hyundai Venue. The new model will be underpinned by the same platform and will be offered with the same engine options. Therefore, the entry-level versions will be sold with a 1.2-litre Kappa-series naturally aspirated petrol engine that offers a maximum power of 85PS and a peak torque of 114 Nm. The highlight of the engine options will be the 1.0-litre Kappa Turbo-GDI petrol engine that offers 120PS and 172Nm.
The third option will be that of a 1.5-litre U2 CRDi engine that will produce 100 PS and 240Nm. Like the Venue, the Sonet will be available with an iMT (Intelligent Manual Transmission) option for the 1.0-litre petrol variant.
