Is Digital Key Becoming The New Norm In Mass Market Cars?

Cars require keys to be opened and started, and the days of physical keys are now numbered. While it was earlier a very niche thing, with only top-end luxury cars getting a digital key feature, it has now trickled down to a few mass-market cars too. Brands like Hyundai, JSW MG Motor India, Tata Motors and Kia India are also offering these features now.

Hyundai offers the digital key feature on the Creta Electric and Alcazar, and Tata Motors offers this feature only on the newly launched Harrier EV. MG is one of the few brands to offer a digital key feature on almost cars it sells here. While Kia India offers this convenience feature on the new Carens Clavis and Carens Clavis EV, it will only be activated sometime in 2026. Interestingly, Kia India offers the digital key feature on the EV6 facelift, EV9 and Carnival too.

Only the top-spec variants of the Creta Electric and Alcazar come with the digital key feature, and Hyundai said only a third of the buyers of these vehicles enrolled for this. It also said that 35 per cent of those buyers were also sharing the digital key with other users (i.e. friends or family).

As mentioned earlier, almost all of the portfolio that MG has in India comes with the Digital Key feature. Unlike Hyundai, MG offers this in more than just the top-spec variants. Acko Drive has reached out to JSW MG Motor India and has sought information regarding how many users have enrolled for this feature. We will update this story once we receive a response.

Tata Motors currently only has this convenience feature on its newly launched Harrier EV, and it did not provide any data on how many users have actually opted for this feature. Hopefully, more cars in its line-up will also get this feature in the future.

What is a digital key, then? It essentially replaces the requirement for a physical key. The digital key gives users a unique code in their smartphone that, with the help of near field communication (NFC), can be used to unlock the car and even start the engine. The owners can also share the digital key with users who have compatible smartphones/ smartwatches to use the car without having to share the physical key.