The spied Kia Sonet is a top-end GTX variant and CNG addition will make is the costliest variant
Kia’s Sonet has been spied recently and guess what, the car is going to get a CNG option by the looks of it. What’s more the South Korean carmaker was seen testing the CNG version in GTX trim.
Interestingly, the motor in the compact SUV that is fed with CNG instead of petrol is not the 1.2-litre naturally aspirated unit. Rather, it is the 1.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine.
As is the case with CNG models, the 3-cylinder engine is expected to be tuned to produce less power and torque than what it does in pure petrol avatar, which stands at 120 PS and 172 Nm.
Although the turbocharged petrol model is available with both 6-speed iMT and 7-speed DCT, it is likely that the CNG-powered Sonet will come with the ‘manual’ transmission without the clutch pedal.
Do note that the recently spied Kia Sonet CNG sports the old logo of the brand. This could only mean that the CNG-powered Sonet has been under development for quite sometime before was brought out on to public roads.
Not much else has been changed when it comes to the exterior, apart from the fact that the rear windscreen has the ‘CNG’ tag stuck on to it, which gives away the model’s secret. Inside, the boot space will be reduced thanks to the additional tank.
With Maruti’s new Brezza also expected to come with a factory fitted CNG kit, Kia is likely to not waste time and launch the CNG-powered Sonet as soon as possible.