Do automatic cars have more women takers? - ET Auto (2024)

• 3 min read

New Delhi: The rapid progress in the technology of automatic gearboxes has almost nullified the necessity of messy manual use of using the clutch pedal and gear lever. Automatic Cars are often perceived to be a favourite among women because of the ease of driving and hasslefree maneuvering experience.

According to the industry experts, the dense traffic in metro cities and the resultant stop-and-go driving conditions has of late incentivised consumers to purchase automatic cars since they provide long-term comfort and intuitive driving experience.

For Tata Motors, within the automatic segment, the percentage of women buyers is higher than manual cars whereas for Maruti Suzuki the share of women buyers stands at 20 percent.~

"When it comes to my transmission type choice, it's more about personal comfort than anything else", said one woman who had recently switched to an automatic daily-driver, adding, "I find that no matter how bad traffic jams go, my legs manage to get some stretching in between. I can’t do that with my manual-driving car which requires all the clutch-stepping."

Another female automotive engineer who drives an automatic emphasised, "With traffic congestion ever-increasing, the true advantages of an automatic gearbox shine. Having to operate a clutch and manually change up and down the gearbox while keeping up with the motion of the traffic can be taxing, frustrating and potentially costly as this kind of driving adds wear and tear of the clutch."

For the homegrown automaker Tata Motors which claims to have one of the widest portfolio of automatic cars, right from Tata Tiago and Tigor, right till the all-new Tata Harrier AT, within the automatic segment, the percentage of women buyers is higher than manual cars.

Talking to ETAuto, Vivek Srivatsa, Head - Marketing, Passenger Vehicle Business Units, Tata Motors said, "The share of automatic cars has been increasing month on month and varies from segment to segment. However, it is in the range of 25 to 35 percent of the total sales of Tata Motors passenger vehicles."

While for the market leader, Maruti Suzuki India the share of women buyers in the automatic segment stands at 20 percent. The carmaker which offers different types of automatic transmission in their cars including Automatic, CVT (Continously Variable Transmission) and AGS (Auto Gear Shift) said automatic cars contribute to 10 percent of overall sales for the company currently.

Meanwhile, for the South Korean carmaker Kia Motors India, close to 50 percent of sales come from the automatic segment. "We expect the demand to rise even further due to the widespread adoption of automated manual transmission (AMT), which has bridged the gap between automatic and manual cars", said Kia Motor spokesperson.

However, the carmaker said that the preference for automatic cars is gender agnostic and completely depends on the preference of the customer.

The company spokesperson further added, "Our latest offering, the Kia Carnival premium MPV, comes with an automatic transmission only and has been received well in the Indian market with a good boost to our sales numbers. This only shows the growing popularity of automatic cars amongst Indian customers.”

Maruti Suzuki India has witnessed an increasing preference for automatic models like Celerio, IGNIS, Swift, Ciaz and Vitara Brezza whereas Tiago and Tigor are some of the popular models among women for Tata.

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