Kia India To Replace Manual ‘Box With iMT In Its Volume-based Diesel Offerings

• Kia Seltos, Carens and Sonet to lose diesel-MT powertrain.
• Instead, the six-speed iMT will be sold alongside the six-speed AT.
• The 1.5-litre diesel engine will be upgraded to meet RDE compliance standards.
• All three models could see a minor increase in their price. 

As Kia India is preparing its lineup to meet the more stringent RDE norms, to be put into effect from April, the Korean marque is making some drastic changes to its lineup. 

For instance, the 1.4-litre turbo-petrol engine will be phased out for a more powerful 1.5-litre unit to sit in its place. But the more drastic one would be the deletion of the six-speed manual ‘box from its volume-based offerings: the Seltos, Sonet and Carens. 

Yes, you read that right. All three models from Kia’s stable featuring the 1.5-litre diesel engine will soon won’t be offered with a six-speed manual transmission. In place of that, the carmaker will be plonking in a six-speed iMT (semi-manual without a clutch pedal). This transmission will be joined alongside the carmaker’s six-speed torque converter automatic. 

Also, down the line, the 1.5-litre diesel engine will only be available with the more powerful 115PS tune in the more stringent emissions era. The 100PS tune with the fixed geometry turbo will be discontinued, meaning the Sonet’s manual variants, like the Venue, will soon get the more powerful tune. 

All these changes and revisions to make the engine comply with more stringent emissions mean you can expect the prices of all three models to go up. Currently, the Sonet is priced from Rs 7.69 lakh, the Seltos starts at Rs 10.69 lakh and the Carens retails from Rs 10.19 lakh (all prices, ex-showroom).