Kia Sonet sub-4 meter compact SUV: What it looks like on the road

Just yesterday, Kia Motors unveiled the Sonet, in India, as a part of their global premiere for the sub-4 meter compact SUV. While you’ve seen what the vehicle looks like on the launch floor, here’s images of the compact SUV from Indian roads. This is a production version of the car, and gets a crossover-ish stance. The orange colour will give it great street presence and in terms of size, the Sonet is quite a compact car, measuring under 4 meters in length.

Images courtesy DriveSpark

The Sonet is based on the Hyundai Venue platform but offers totally different styling, additional features and many more variants when compared to its Hyundai sibling. It’ll be launched in India sometime next month, and is expected to be competitively priced. It’ll be Kia’s least priced offering in the Indian market, and is expected to be the top selling car in the South Korean automaker’s line up here.

Jumping into the key highlights of the Sonet, it borrows the 10.25 inch touchscreen infotainment interface from its elder sibling, the Seltos, This feature is likely to be a big draw among most buyers, along with the Bose stereo. The Sonet also gets an electric sunroof while the interiors get a black theme that hints at sportiness. The Sonet gets a slew of luxury car features including ventilated seats, ambient lighting, 360 camera and remote car start. The Sonet will easily be the most feature-rich car in its segment, and a GT Line trim will also be on offer.

Also read: Kia Sonet listed on the official website before launch

Mechanically, the Sonet will be similar to the Venue. The compact SUV will be offered with three engine options – two in petrol and one in diesel. The 1.2 liter-4 cylinder naturally aspirated petrol engine (84 Bhp-114 Nm) will be offered on the lower trims, with a 5 manual gearbox as standard. The best selling petrol is expected to be the sporty, 1 liter-3 cylinder turbocharged unit with 118 Bhp-172 Nm on tap.

Three gearboxes – 6 speed manual, 6 speed semi automatic (IMT) and 7 speed twin clutch automatic – will be offered with this engine. The diesel engine will be a 1.5 liter-4 cylinder turbocharged unit (98.6 Bhp-240 Nm), with 2 gearbox options: a 6 speed manual and a 6 speed torque converter automatic. Clearly, the Kia Sonet will offer something for everyone, just like the Seltos. If Kia manages to price this heavily localized compact SUV well, it may have yet another best seller at hand. Over to the launch now.

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