Toyota says no to automatic manual technology in cars

While car makers such as Tata Motors, Mahindra and Renault are following the footsteps of market leader Maruti Suzuki in developing automated manual transmission (AMT) versions of their cars, world's largest car maker Toyota has raised a red flag on the technology that it believes is dated and may be prone to breakdowns.

Toyota has said it does not consider AMT technology to be durable enough to be used in its cars. It said the higher number of movable components as compared to standard automatic transmission kits could mean higher wear and tear.

"We do believe the market is gradually moving towards automatic cars but we will stick to traditional automatic transmission. Repairing a gearbox costs a lot of money and AMT has higher number of movable parts and may not be as durable," said N Raja, director and senior vice president, Toyota Kirloskar Motor India.

AMT was first introduced in India by Maruti in its small car Celerio. Higher cost and relatively lower fuel economy are reasons for the lack of demand for automatic cars in India. They account for a mere 3% of overall car sales in India.