2024 Kia Sonet Facelift Expected Vs Actual — Price Reaction | V3Cars

Expected vs Launch Price Comparison

We were expecting to see the Sonet start with an ex-showroom price of more than Rs. 8.0 lakh for the base variant and we were pretty close as the launch price was just Rs. 1,000 shy of our expectation. In fact, among the 3 variants with the 1.2L normal petrol engine, 2 of our estimations were spot on.

With the turbo petrol-ACMT powertrain, all 3 variants were within a reasonable margin of error (<5% deviation) and so was the most affordable turbo petrol-automatic variant. While the higher 2 turbo petrol-automatic powertrains were also under 5% margin of deviation, the gap was fairly substantial and more than 4%.

Among the diesel-manual variants, we meet the first failure with the HTK trim. Here, we were off by more than 5% but others remained well within a reasonable limit. With the diesel-ACMT powertrain one variant’s expected price was as close as it gets while the other one missed the mark to barely allow us a passing grade.

With the diesel-automatic powertrains as well, we were just close enough to qualify as passable.

*We consider <5% as a passing grade and <1% deviation as achieving a distinction. Beyond 5% is a failure in our books.

To go through our Sonet price expectations along with our logic behind those estimations, you can visit the following link:

Kia Sonet 2024 Facelift Expected Price — With Logic (Updated)

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Price Reaction

Now, let’s examine the launch and expected prices in a little more detail.

1.2L Normal Petrol-MT

In terms of accuracy, this powertrain variant are at the top with 2 distinctions. While our estimations for the HTE and HTK Plus prices were spot on, with the mid variant, Kia threw us a pleasant surprise by pricing the HTK at about Rs. 20,000 lower than our expectations. This makes it a fantastic value for money variant for the Sonet 1.2L buyers.

1.0L Turbo Petrol-ACMT

Among the turbo-auto-clutch variants, we suffered a less than 2% deviation on the good side. As in, the buyers judging the prices by our expectations would be pleased to see lower prices.

However, the HTX Plus variant breached our expectations by a substantial margin of 3%. Not a failure in our books, but not a good score either.

1.0L Turbo Petrol-Auto (7DCT)

With the petrol-automatic, Kia priced the HTX trim at about Rs. 20,000 below our expectations. But, the ADAS-equipped variants handily breached our expected prices and the Rs. 15.0 lakh price barrier.

1.5L Turbo Diesel-MT

Barring HTK trim of the Sonet diesel, the other variants pretty much followed our estimations and were a couple of percentage points here or there. With the base diesel variant, Kia now have a sub Rs. 10.0 lakh car while the other trims clearly intend to encourage the buyer to jump to the higher, auto-clutch variants if possible. Especially, if you look at the HTX diesel-ACMT, you’ll notice that despite adding a few exclusive features and the convenience of auto-clutch, this trim only costs about Rs. 60,000 more.

1.5L Turbo Diesel-ACMT

Among the diesel-ACMT variants, the HTX seems like the variant to buy as it gives you all the must-have features while leaving some good-to-have features for the expensive HTX Plus trim.

I personally like the fact that the diesel HTX trim gets ventilated front seats but skips out on alloy wheels, larger infotainment, a premium Bose sound system and a full-colour LCD instrument cluster. So, you pretty much get all of the features of the outgoing GTX Plus variant of the Sonet at a lower price than before.

1.5L Turbo Diesel-Auto (6TC)

Among the diesel-automatic variants, the more affordable HTX trim was about Rs. 40,000 below our expectations. This makes it only Rs. 40,000  pricier than the HTX diesel-ACMT. That’s like a throwaway price for such a well-loaded variant of the Sonet. Even if you factor in the Rs. 20,000 - 25,000 for the ACMT itself over the full-manual. Rs. 60,000 - 65,000 price premium over a full-manual is downright crazy value for money.

However, in the higher variants with the ADAS, here too, our estimations were off a fair bit.

Learnings

A few things are clear. Kia have moved the value variants a little lower in the Sonet. This is in stark contrast to the Seltos pricing, where the value is concentrated towards the higher end. Of course, all variants of the Sonet are an easy recommendation but there are some trims sprinkled here and there to make it easy for you to find something that’d satisfy your head and heart.

While the higher ADAS-equipped variants also offer a decent value considering their ADAS features, at this price, they are more suitable for the early adopters. If they had to arrive at these prices, we wish they also offered adaptive cruise control for a bit of relaxed expressway driving. It’s not unreasonable for us to ask for these features as Honda also offer these features with automatic as well as manual variants of the City.

For now, the fact remains that our expectations for most variants of the Sonet was fairly accurate, we should have been a little closer in our estimations with the top trims with ADAS.

This pricing strategy also suggests that Kia are preparing for a cold winter ahead with some liquidity crunch. A good value-focused lineup will allow them to continue with healthy volumes with minimal to no discounts. Moreover, if the market shows signs of strength and inflation starts surging again, they can jack up the prices to adapt to those conditions. To sum it up, they have positioned the Sonet beautifully for the 2024 calendar year and are prepared to swiftly adapt to any market condition without diluting the brand or compromising market share.

Also Read: 2024 Kia Sonet Facelift Variants Explained - Which Variant To Buy?

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