Nip-n-tuck for baby Kia
Kia has unveiled the Sonet facelift – gets exterior, interior and powertrain upgrades
THE SONET IS AN IMPORTANT product for Kia’s India lineup. Since its launch in 2020, the Sonet has garnered over 3.68 lakh customers for the brand. Now, keeping up with the times, the brand has updated the Sonet giving it design, safety and feature enhancements.
Starting with the exterior, it has a redesigned front fascia with a new grille, headlamps, DRLs, a bumper and a skidplate to go along with that. The side retains the design language from the outgoing model except for the rims which are still 16 inches but come in four new wheel designs. The rear too gets a redesigned bumper and skid plates. Similar to the Seltos launched earlier this year, the Sonet also gets a full-width taillight. There’s also a rear spoiler if you opt for the GTX+ and X-Line variants. Paint options? Eight monotone, including the olive tone from Seltos, two dual-tone, and a matte finish — again, akin to the Seltos.
Inside, you would notice a new 10.25-inch instrument cluster with a blind-view monitor. The 10.25-inch infotainment is the same but now includes more connected features including remote window control, air purifier control and a ‘Find My Car’ function. For convenience, the driver’s seat gets electronic adjustment, all windows have got one-touch up/down, and rear windows have sunshades. Safety-wise, six airbags are standard across the range and ADAS has finally come to the Sonet. It sits one rung below the Seltos in terms of capability and includes 10 features like a front collision warning and avoidance system, lane following assist and leading vehicle departure alert. There’s a new interior colour option which adds brown inserts with the black upholstery and the ambient lighting and Bose sound system have continued from the outgoing model.
The biggest deal on the powertrain front is that Kia has brought back the manual gearbox for the diesel variants which was discontinued in April last year. Like before, engine options include a 1.2-litre NA petrol, a 1-litre turbopetrol and a 1.5-litre turbo-diesel. Transmission options are vast, with every engine getting the option of two or more.
With these upgrades, Kia’s playing catch-up with the market trends, throwing in safety and convenience features. And now with so many options for variants and drivetrains, the Sonet facelift caters to all kinds of buyers. The Nexon should certainly be worried. ⌧