India is comparatively new to the automatic transmission concept. There were only a handful of imported models that came with automatic transmission in India some five years back. But now there are many cars available in the Indian car market that comes with automatic gearbox. Cars with automatic transmission are different from cars with manual transmission. The differences are marked in terms of power, acceleration, fuel economy and driving comfort.
The automatic transmission gearbox does not require a driver’s intervention while driving. The driver has to make use of the acceleration and brake pedals while driving without having to change the gears. The gear shift automatically moves up at the optimum shifting level when the driver presses the accelerator and the opposite action can be achieved when the brake pedal is pressed.
Many of the cars available in India with an automatic transmission have been modified to suit the Indian road conditions. This allows the cars to comfortably handle bad roads and hilly regions. There are only two major drawbacks in a car with an automatic transmission. First, as it is made up of several components, a break down of even a single component can stop the car completely. Hence, the cost of maintenance of a car with an automatic transmission is quite higher than cars with a manual transmission. Second, as control of power and acceleration is completely dependant on the transmission, the driver cannot speed up beyond a set safety speed. However, cars with automatic transmission are gaining popularity because of it smooth handling capacity and improved mileage. Cars with automatic gearbox ease the pressure of driving in congested cities.
Lately, it has been noticed that Indian car buyers are preferring cars with automatic transmission. As a result, there has been a huge sale of the automatic variant of a car model. The Hyundai i10 is a good example of one such car. The Korean car company is in fact selling more cars than the company’s estimates in India. As a result, the Indian arm of Hyundai has launched its Verna in the automatic variant. The Captiva from Chevrolet brand of General Motors is now available in automatic variant with a four-wheel drive because of huge demand for automatic gearbox.
Most of the car makers offer their cars in both the manual and automatic version. Some car makers are planning to introduce the automatic version of their top-selling models in future. To illustrate, we have Toyota declaring that the Fortuner will be revised with an automatic transmission in future and Ford has equipped the Endeavour with automatic transmission in the facelifted version and rolled out in India.
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