Maruti Suzuki to launch A-star Automatic

Automatic version of A-star coming soon

Wheelosphere has got news from genuine sources that Maruti Suzuki will launch their fun to drive small car, the A-star with an automatic transmission. The A-star has not set the sales charts on fire so far but the introduction of an automatic might just sweeten the deal for those looking for a hassle-free city car. Currently, the i10 and the i20 are the only two cars available with an automatic transmission in the small car segment. While the i10 retails for over 5 lakhs (on-road) for the base Automatic, the i20 is out of contention retailing at well over Rs 8.5 lakhs on-road.

So, the market is there for the A-star automatic but can the smaller A-Star steal sales from the i10? Well, if Maruti price the automatic version lower than the i10, then customers might get one as the A-star is good enough for short trips. The A-star is slated to get a 4-speed torque converter automatic that could achieve somewhere around 14-15km/l as per ARAI (19.6km/l for the A-star manual) meaning it should be good enough for 10km/l in the city. Although the shifts are slow, that wont deter most from buying the automatic A-star.

What Nissan needs to do now is bring the CVT version of the Micra with Stop-Start that achieves 26km/l in Japan.