Maruti Suzuki, India's largest car manufacturer, said on Wednesday that the company has sold over 50,000 vehicles equipped with automated manual gearshift (AMT). 

Maruti Suzuki calls the AMT as auto gear shift (AGS); the Celerio hatchback was the first car to feature AGS when it was launched in February 2014.

After Celerio, AGS was also introduced in the Alto K10. The 50,000 vehicles comprise both the Celerio hatchback and the Alto K10.

Currently, the AGS variant of the two models accounts for 25% of sales of Celerio and Alto K10 put together.

"Auto Gear Shift technology's distinct attributes such as affordability, and convenience of driving in stop-go traffic conditions without any compromise on fuel efficiency have led to the popularity of this technology across India," said R S Kalsi, Executive Director, Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki India, in a statement.

When Maruti Suzuki launched the Celerio, it took the segment by storm with the AGS gearbox. The AGS gear box is fitted with electronic controlled hydraulic actuators that perform a surrogate role for the driver, declutching, changing gear and then re-engaging the clutch. It also ensures that the gear and clutch operations happen at the right rpm resulting in better fuel efficiency.

The success of AMT transmission also prompted other manufacturers to adopt the technology. Tata motors introduced AMT gearbox in its Zest compact sedan and the Nano. Mahindra introduced the AMT gearbox in the SUV segment with the launch of the TUV300 compact SUV recently.

Maruti Suzuki has chalked out its plan to launch 15 models in India by 2020. With the growing demand for the AMT gearbox, Maruti Suzuki is likely to include many of the new models with the AMT gearbox. The next car from Maruti Suzuki expected with AMT gearbox is the Swift Dzire Diesel and the car was spotted testing in India recently.

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