For more than a year, the Kia Seltos has brought enough sales to the local subsidiary of the South Korean premium car manufacturer. At this year’s Auto Expo, Kia Motor India introduced its second model in the form of the Carnival luxury MPV. That said, it becomes important to mention here that the Carnival is a premium offering that targets a pretty small group of buyers. Another reason for the low popularity of the Carnival is that with the exception of the Toyota Innova Crysta, people are reluctant to put their money on MPVs. Hence, Kia is now working on its third offering for India, which will launch here in August. Ahead of the official introduction, the company has teased the upcoming model in a couple of images here.
Basically, the Kia Sonet is an upcoming sub-4-metre SUV whose concept model made its debut at the Auto Expo 2020. Now, the sub-compact SUV is about to reach the market and will launch on August 7. Ahead of the launch of the upcoming model, Kia Motors India has teased the SUV in a couple of images that were released on the company’s social media platform.
The Kia Sonet will be seen locking horns with some highly successful models like the Hyundai Venue, Maruti Brezza, Mahindra XUV 300 and Tata Nexon. It will also rival the soon-to-be-launched Nissan Magnite. That said, the Sonet will be marketed as a more premium product than any other model in the segment and, in accordance, its prices are likely to be much higher than other vehicles. In fact, chances are that the entry-level model of the Kia Seltos will cost Rs 8 lakh, while the top-end version will cost more than Rs 13 lakh.
The Kia Sonet will share aplenty with the Hyundai Venue. For starters, it will be based on the same platform and will even offer the same engine options. What this means is that the smallest engine on offer will be a 1.2-litre Kappa-series naturally aspirated petrol engine that produces a maximum power of 85PS and a peak torque of 114 Nm. Also, on offer will be a 1.0-litre Kappa Turbo-GDI petrol engine that will produce a maximum power of 120PS and a peak torque of 172Nm. The third engine option on offer will be a 1.4-litre CRDi diesel unit that offers a maximum power of 99bhp and a peak torque of 215Nm. Transmission options for the Kia Sonet will include a 6-speed manual transmission, 6-speed iMT and a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The 6-speed iMT (Intelligent Manual Transmission) for the Kia Sonet will soon debut on the Venue, which will become the first car to have this gearbox option.
