[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by Carma2017

The 3rd row is purely a cynical discussion taken by KIA for tax and green certification purposes in Indonesia. I don't think it will ever see light of day in India.

The vehicle is being offered with 1.5L Petrol engine, so the Indonesian LCGC tax benefits are not available to KIA/ customer.

Originally Posted by Zorbix

Wow this looks super cramped. I wouldn't be surprised if these photos trigger claustrophobic people.

Originally Posted by ant_vas

This thread is like a trolling goldmine
The 3rd row is a cruel joke being played by Kia on customer but thankfully not yet on the Indian customers!

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

To me, that is all the more a reason to take the approach they took in India. A well rounded product designed ground up to meet the requirements. Even here tho, they missed the trick with saftey.

This 7-seater (barely) Sonet isnt how they should go about challenging the domination of Toyota-Diahatsu.

Not defending KIA, however, I have compiled some data to put in perspective what KIA is targeting. Whether this bet will succeed or not, only time will tell. Hyundai & KIA are anyways fringe players in Indonesia, trying to chip in whatever fractions they can.

I am not having enough information to compare the dimensions of vehicles in terms of engine bay and passenger compartment, so can't comment on comfort levels of 2nd & 3rd row passengers (amongst below vehicles).



PS :
1. Toyota Avanza was market leader for 14 straight years (2006~2019)
2. Datsun GO+ was discontinued in 2020. Infact, Datsun brand production was discontinued in 2020. And rightly so, due to low acceptance in market.

Specification sources :
[Datsun GO+] [Daihatsu Sigra] [Toyota Calya] [KIA Sonet 7 seater] [Daihatsu Xenia] [Toyota Avanza]

Sales Data :
[2017] [2018] [2019] [2020]

[PraNeel]

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

Calm down guys.

Before being sarcastic and demanding correctness on all ergonomics and what not, we must understand the demography of the market.

Many Indonesian families comprise of 4 adults (Dad, Mom, Grand Dad, Grand Mom) and 2~3 kids. And these families frequently travel from job locations (big cities) to native places which are smaller towns/ villages. An average family prefers to have a 7-seater vehicle for such weekend travels. Look at the number of low cost 7~8 seater vehicles in Indonesian market, though is almost one-third the size of Indian market. Similarly, 7 seater SUV segment is also growing fast in that market.

You may agree with this or not, IMHO, before making fun of the product, let's spare some thought for the management, planners and engineers (not just in KIA) who are trying to cater to the expectations of customers.

I am sorry, I don't understand the rationale here. The product which is not designed to be a seven seater, shouldn't be sold as one. If people prefer a low cost 7 seater then design one and sell, rather than slapping a third row in boot and compromising the safety of people who sit in it.
Will this be allowed to sell in Europe? No. Why? Because people lives matter.
And these companies should follow the same approach everywhere (at least w.r.t. safety).

[Arnav612]

I'm probably late to this thread because I just got accepted earlier this week, but I'd like to share my two cents here.
Before I start, this car was teased on social media a few days after "April Fool's Day", and the comments were FLOODED with people saying "April Fool's is over!"

I also acknowledge that Indonesia is a market dominated by SUVs and MPVs, where Toyota-Daihatsu have been reigning supreme. But if it needs to be shaken up by Kia, is this the way? The point remains that make a car for what it is best suited. The Triber as has been mentioned up here before, was designed to be flexible into a 7 seater format since the beginning, hence optimizing space from the grassroot level of the project.

The Sonet is literally a Venue/Brezza/Nexon/XUV300 competitor to correspond with the Indian Market. Two seats have been added to the BOOT. That in itself is a huge, huge compromise on safety. A rear impact is all that'll take to bring Kia down on their knees. The cabin space overall in the Sonet is much lesser than the Triber, hence I doubt the comparison even stands here. We have a thread going on and on about the feasibility of the Hyundai Alcazar, well, what better is this ?

Now let's get to the "seats" as a whole. Even if I were to require 7 seats only occasionally hence not invest in a bigger car, my conscience wouldn't allow me to send be it a 6 foot adult or a 4 foot child back there. The bench is small, knees shoot for the stars, the overhang curves right where the seat is, and there's no window. If they were so so concerned about adding the last two seats, they could've worked on atleast the daylight opening.

I personally don't see any reason in why this makes sense regardless of how dominant the concerned market is by cars of this kind.

Cheers,
Arnav612