Next Wagon R to have AMT gearbox

Maruti Suzuki is riding high on the success of the Celerio AMT (Automated Manual Transmission) variant, with almost 50 percent of the hatchback’s sales coming from the same. Maruti also offers the Alto K10 with an AMT unit and the company has been able to capitalise well on the lack of similar offerings from its rivals until the recently announced, Tata Nano GenX AMT. Maruti had earlier revealed its plans that after the Alto, the Wagon R will be getting the AMT unit and it seems that production of the same has started long back as the AMT variant of the Wagon R will soon be up for grabs in Indonesia.

Maruti has been exporting its vehicles to Indonesia from our country for quite some time now. The hatchback may even become the cheapest automatic car in Indonesia, the tag which is currently held by the Daihatsu Ayla. Two variants of the Wagon R are set to receive the automated transmission, one being the top-end variant of the regular Wagon R and the other being the Stingray version (not sold as Stingray in Indonesia). Therefore, with the Indonesian launch nearing, the Wagon R AMT’s launch in India is also very close. However, Maruti Suzuki is planning to position the Wagon R AMT as a premium offering in India and may launch the auto gearbox on the Stingray edition only.

The Wagon R AMT will be paired to the same 1.0-litre K-Series petrol engine that is also found on the Celerio and Alto K10. The upcoming hatchback it set to add on to the company’s stable of cheap automatic hatchbacks and will surely lead to a positive bump in Wagon R sales for the manufacturer. The Stingray AMT is expected to be priced at a premium of around Rs. 30,000-35,000/- over the standard variant and the automatic transmission units will be sourced from Magneti Marelli only. With Maruti increasing their models that are available with the AMT unit, Magneti Marelli will be manufacturing the transmission units locally in the near future to save costs.