Korean carmaker Kia has been one of the fastest-growing carmakers in the country ever since the brand was introduced in the Indian market a few years ago. Apart from the EV6 electric, the company sells 4 other cars in India – Seltos, Sonet, Carens and the Carnival and these have now been given RDE compliant engines with updated powertrain and additional features. This came in alignment with the Government mandate for cleaner emissions with transition to Phase II of BS6 norms.
While the petrol engine in Sonet remains unchanged, the turbo petrol engine in Carens – the Smartstream G1.4 T-GDi is now replaced by the Smartstream G1.5 T-GDi which churns out 160 PS of power and 253 Nm of peak torque between 1500 to 3500 RPM. In the Diesel powertrains, the Sonet’s 1.5 CRDi WGT has been replaced by the 1.5 CRDi VGT with enhanced power output of 116 PS from the earlier 100 PS. The same engine in Seltos and Carens get minute power output enhancement, offering 116 PS from instead of earlier 115 PS.
With these updates Kia has also decided to give a big push to the clutch less Intelligent Manual Transmission technology in India. The 6-speed iMT now comes as a standard transmission in the diesel and the Petrol turbo variants of all Kia India models currently on shelf. With this move, the Manual Transmission is now only available in variants of Seltos and Carens with Smartstream G1.5 naturally aspirated engine and in variants of Sonet with Smartstream G1.2 naturally aspirated engine.
Along with the powertrain related changes, the brand has also introduced the ISG (Idle Stop Go) feature as standard across all the models. This feature will help increase the fuel efficiency on all the cars. Apart from this, the Kia Connect Skill for Amazon Alexa has been added as a connected car feature. With this the brand has introduced home to car connectivity feature on its cars. The Alexa device can be connected to customers’ vehicle by registering on Amazon Alexa application. The feature is now also available for the EV6 which is the most expensive offering from the brand in India.
The updated Kia Sonet also gets ISOFIX as standard across variants while Electronic Stability Control (ESC) comes as standard in Diesel iMT trims. Adjustable rear headrests are also now standard on the car across all trims. The car starts at Rs. 7.79 lakh and goes up to Rs. 13.89 lakh, ex-showroom for the Petrol versions. In all there are 10 trims to choose from, seven of which get the Turbo engine. The Diesel range has nine trims in all, and the prices range from Rs. 9.95 lakh to Rs. 14.89 lakh, ex-showroom. The top-of-the-line XLine is available on both the Turbo Petrol and Diesel engines of the small SUV.
Talking about the Seltos, the Petrol range of the SUV now starts at Rs. 10.89 lakh and goes up to Rs. 15.90 lakh, ex-showroom for the lone IVT variant. The seven Diesel trims range from Rs. 12.39 lakh to Rs. 19.65 lakh, ex-showroom for the X-line which interestingly is not available on the Petrol version of the SUV. Finally, the Carens Petrol now starts at Rs. 10.45 lakh for and goes all the way to Rs. 18.45 lakh, ex-showroom for the top Luxury Plus DCT trim. The Diesel models of the MPV are priced between Rs. 12.65 lakh for the base iMT and Rs. 18.95 lakh, ex-showroom for the 7-seater top Diesel Automatic.
The author is a senior editor at carandbike.com.