In the 2018 edition of our Transmission.tech conference, one of the highlights was the launch of a whitepaper titled ‘Global Powertrain Outlook 2018’ prepared by Frost & Sullivan. The whitepaper claimed that automatic transmissions would have a 64 % share of the global transmissions market by 2025, and this growth will be driven by demand for DCTs from China and AMTs from India. Bolstering this fact, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) recently achieved cumulative sales of 300,000 units of cars equipped with the Auto Gear Shift (AGS) technology. We take a closer look at the history and inception of Maruti Suzuki’s AGS and how it promises to become the most staple among two pedal technologies for the Indian market in the lower segments.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
The AGS technology that has been featured across multiple models of Maruti Suzuki India is essentially an Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) that has helped garner huge success as far as two pedal technologies are concerned. According to the whitepaper, one in every four vehicles would be equipped with automatic transmission by 2025 and AMTs will hold a 15 % share of the AT segment. CVTs and DCTs have been ruling the roost globally and have emerged as the most preferred option for manufacturers.
Maruti Suzuki has been focusing on two pedal technologies since 2010. At that point in time, the penetration levels of AT in India were fairly low. This was partly because the price differentiation between manual and automatic transmission was nearly ₹ 100,000 and fuel efficiency was also low by nearly 10-20 % in comparison with manual transmissions. Customers felt that the maintenance costs of AT-equipped vehicles would be high and did not evince interest in this technology.
Having done extensive research on automatic transmissions for the Indian market, Maruti Suzuki realised that two pedal technologies have merit with people living in congested metropolitan cities in India. But the company’s big challenge was on how to make an automatic transmission product relevant for customers who desired it. Around this time, the company made a bold move and introduced the A-Star with an automatic transmission and reduced the price difference to about ₹ 60,000 in Bengaluru.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2018 من Auto Tech Review.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2018 من Auto Tech Review.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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