Kia Sonet facelift 2024 bookings to open on this date, launch likely in January
Kia Sonet facelift bookings to start from this date
Kia has announced that date for the pre-bookings of Sonet facelift SUV. The carmaker has said that customers can order the new Sonet from December 20. According to HT auto sources, the booking amount for the Sonet facelift will be ₹25,000. One can book the SUV through the nearest dealership or through Kia's official website. The launch is expected to take place in January next year.
Kia Sonet facelift to get same set of engines
Under the hood, Kia has kept things unchanged for the Sonet facelift SUV. There are three engines, including petrol and diesel, offered as choices. The 1.2-litre naturally-aspirated petrol engine is capable of churning out 82 bhp of power and 115 Nm of peak torque. The engine will come mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. The second option is the 1.0-litre turbo petrol engine. Mated to either a 6-speed iMT and 7-speed DCT transmission, the engine can generate 118 bhp of power and 172 Nm of peak torque. The sole diesel engine is a 1.5-litre unit which will see the return of the 6-speed manual gearbox. There are also the 6-speed iMT and 6-speed automatic transmission choices available. The engine can churn out 114 bhp of power and 250 Nm of peak torque.
Kia claims Sonet offers more value for money than its rivals
Kia India has claimed that the Sonet compact SUV comes offering much better value for money than other models in its segment. The South Korean car manufacturer under the Hyundai Group cited a Frost & Sullivan study saying that the Sonet comes with the lowest maintenance cost in the compact SUV segment of the Indian passenger vehicle market. The car manufacturer claimed that the diesel-powered Sonet offers 14 per cent lower maintenance cost than other models in the segment, while the petrol-powered Sonet offers 16 per cent lower maintenance cost than the segment average, making the latter a better value-for-money car. (Read full report)
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2199.0 cc
Diesel
99.8 kWh
450 km
Kia Sonet to get these safety features other than ADAS
Besides the 10 ADAS features, Kia will also offer six airbags as standard. This could mean the new Sonet will pass any crash test with five-star rating. The carmaker will also offer safety features like electronic stability control, vehicle stability management, hill start assist control, rear view camera with guideline and tyre pressure monitoring system. With 25 safety features, the new Sonet is the safest version of the SUV ever.
2024 Kia Sonet will come with these new features
Along with the changes in design, Kia will also update the new Seltos with the introduction of various new features. The Sonet has always been a feature-loaded offering since its debut three years ago. The latest iteration will come with a new infotainment screen that the Seltos facelift also offers. The 10.25-inch touchscreen unit will dominate the dashboard which will also house the updated digital driver display of similar size. Besides these, the new Sonet will also offer other features like ventilated front seats, electric sunroof, air purifier, Bose sound system, power-adjustable driver seat. Kia will also offer Alexa voice commands for hands-free connectivity and functions. The carmaker claims there are 25 segment-first features in the new Sonet.
Kia Sonet facelift to get this segment-first feature
The new Kia Sonet will have one bragging right over its current rivals - its ADAS feature. The Sonet facelift is set to become the first SUV in the sub-compact segment to come with the Advance Driver Assistant System which will offer as many as 10 features. These will include the likes of lane keep assist, lane follow assist and lane departure warning. It will also offer features like forward collision warning and collision avoidance assist. Kia will also add features like high beam assist, driver attention warning and leading vehicle departure alert in the ADAS pack for Sonet.
Kia Sonet facelift: What has changed inside
Kia has also updated the interior of the new Sonet SUV. It offers new dual-tone cabin with updated upholstery. There are five interior choices one can pick, depending on the variants on offer. The Tech Line trims will be offered with three interior choices. These include an all-black interior with semi-leatherette seats, dual-tone black and beige interior with semi-leatherette seats and dual-tone black and premium brown interior with same seats. The GT Line version will get dual-tone black and white interior with black leatherette seats while the X-Line trim will get black interiors with exclusive Sage Green inserts and leatherette seats.
The space inside the new Sonet SUV remains largely similar to the outgoing version as the wheelbase, length and width have not been changed in its new avatar.
Kia Sonet has found more than 2.80 lakh homes in India so far
Sonet is Kia's second best-selling model in India. Till November, the carmaker has sold nearly 2.83 lakh units across the country since its launch in September 2020. Despite being launched during the Covid years, Sonet clocked one lakh sales milestone in less than a year. Kia also exports Sonet SUVs made in India to other countries. Including the export figures, the Sonet SUV has found more than 3.50 lakh homes around the world. In November, Kia sold 6,433 units of the Sonet SUV, with a dip of around 18 per cent compared to the same month last year. With the 2024 Sonet arriving soon, Kia pins hope on the new version to bolster its sales in coming days.
Kia Sonet facelift SUV to get several design updates
The leaked brochure of the new Kia Sonet shows the sub-compact SUV with sharper details compared to its predecessor. At the front, it continues to wear Kia's signature Tiger Nose grille which has been tweaked a bit than the existing one. The new LED headlight unit appears the same one used in the new Seltos as well as Carens. The new LED DRLs are sharper and are placed as a wrap-around on the headlight units on either end. The bumper too has been tweaked with silver skid plates at the lip.
From the sides, the new Sonet looks similar to the old one with very few changes. The alloy wheels, which will be available in two sizes, have also undergone design changes. Kia will offer 15-inch steel wheels for the lower-end trims. For the mid and top-end variants, they will be replaced by 16-inch alloy wheels in three designs. These are dual-tone, diamond-cut and sporty diamond-cut alloy units.
At the rear, Kia has tweaked the taillights with a new design which looks similar to the Seltos facelift and Carens. Like its compact sibling, Sonet too will now get a connected LED light bar at the rear which enhances its looks. The bumper has been slightly modified with silver skid plates.
Kia Sonet facelift: It has grown a bit taller now
The new Kia Sonet facelift SUV remains largely the same size as the outgoing model. The sub-compact SUV stands 3,995 mm in length and 1,790 in width which are similar to the existing dimensions of the Sonet/ However, the height of the SUV has increased by 32 mm. It now stands at 1,642 mm instead of 1,610 mm earlier. The wheelbase of the Sonet facelift SUV also remains same at 2,500 mm.
New Kia Sonet: Colour options one can choose from
According to the leaked brochure, Kia will offer the 2024 Seltos SUV with as many as 11 colour options. These include seven single-tone exterior themes Clear White, Glacier Pearl White, Sparkling Silver, Gravity Grey, Aurora Black Pearl and Intense Red. Kia will also introduce the Pewter Olive colour which was introduced in the new Seltos earlier this year. Besides these seven colours, Kia will also offer two dual-tone exterior theme in combination of Intense Red with Aurora Black Pearl roof and Glacier White Pearl with Aurora Black Pearl Roof. Kia will also introduce the Matte Graphite colour exclusively for the X-Line trim.
Kia Sonet facelift: Variants
Kia will offer the new Sonet SUV in as many as seven variants. These variants will come powered by six combination of engine and transmission units. The base variant of the SUV wil continue to be called the HTE. The other variants are HTK, HTK+, HTX, HTX+, GTX+. Kia will also offer a X-Line variant of the Sonet SUV, just like the Seltos facelift which was launched in a new avatar in July this year.
Kia Sonet brochure leaked, offers first glimpse at the new SUV
Ahead of the official event, the brochure of the upcoming Kia Sonet facelift SUV has been leaked online. The first look of the new Sonet is now publicshowing the changes the SUV has undergone in its new avatar, both inside and outside. As the image shows, the 2024 Kia Sonet will wear a slightly different front face with tweaked grille that has parametric pattern. The grille is flanked by a set of new LED headlights and LED DRLs which are sharper than before, and reminds one of the light setup on the Seltos facelift SUV launched earlier this year.The alloy wheel design has also undergone small changes.
New Sonet holds key to Kia's growth in India
Sonet sub-compact SUV was the third model from the Korean carmaker in India. After debut with the Seltos, Kia had introduced the Carnival just months ahead of the Sonet. Packed with features, like most cars from Korean manufacturers, Sonet struck the right chord with Indian customers at a time when most of its rivals lacked in that aspect, as well as in choice of powertrain.
However, Sonet failed to emulate the success enjoyed by the likes of Maruti Brezza, the erstwhile leader of the segment, or Tata Nexon which is currently the best-selling SUV in the country. It is even lagging behind Hyundai Venue, on of its arch rivals, despite sharing a lot of similarities. Seltos and Sonet remain the volume drivers for Kia in India. For the carmaker to grow further and take on the top three carmakers, the success of Sonet is Kia's aim now, more than ever.
