Maruti Suzuki ready with another firecracker for forthcoming Diwali
Maruti Suzuki want to welcome the forthcoming festive season with all guns blazing. The engineers at their Gurgaon manufacturing plant have been burning the midnight oil, testing a fuel-efficient and more advanced version of an 800-cc car. We have already driven the car but media restrictions prevent us from publishing the pictures just yet. But we do have a couple of spy pictures and are glad to share these with you.
Earlier, during the Auto Expo 2012, Maruti Suzuki Managing Director Shinzo Nakanishi had told the media that the ageing Maruti 800 and Alto range had been in India for many years now and, perhaps, required an upgrade to meet current requirements.
The company seems to be taking no chances and has designed the new car keeping the current buyer’s trends and competition in mind. As the rear badge suggests, the new car will be called ‘Alto 800’ but will be based on the old Alto platform. There are strong traces of the Alto even on the exterior design, especially the side profile and entire rear-end treatment. It now gets a narrow front grille and all-black, hexagonal lower grille, while the tear-drop headlamps are in keeping with the latest trend in the hatchback market. The high rear bumper and squat boot-lid are carried over from the A-Star, but it gets new wrap-around tail-lamps.
Upon closer inspection, we noticed that the interior has been given a complete makeover. The low-spec ‘LXi’ version seen in the pictures has integrated headrests, a new dashboard and circular air-con vents. This new Alto 800 should have a more comfortable and better headroom compared to the outgoing model. The rear windows are larger than the A-Star’s, making the rear seats less claustrophobic.
Maruti Suzuki has reworked the suspension, making it softer to provide customers a better ride quality on our not-so-perfect roads. We also hear that the compression ratio has been increased, along with the overall power and torque figures, which should endow the new 800 with better performance figures than its predecessor.
Currently, Maruti Suzuki sell the Alto with two engine options – the cheaper and more popular 800-cc basic version that sells about 16,500 units and the more powerful, 1,000-cc Alto K10, which sells close to 8,300 units per month in India. However, the last couple of months have seen the Alto range lose steam in the sales chart due to growing competition such as the introduction of Hyundai’s Eon. More importantly, the ever rising price of petrol is tempting buyers to opt for cars powered by diesel, which is about 40 per cent cheaper and drastically brings down the running cost.
The overall Maruti car sales have dropped by 11 per cent to 10.1 lakh units and their top-selling Alto sales have also decreased by 11 per cent to 3.08 lakh units in FYI 2011-12, according to the data issued by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam).
The new entry-level hatchback is expected to help the company regain the momentum it once had in the segment. Although we expected to see a K-Series motor under the bonnet of the new Alto 800, the badge suggests it to be powered by an upgraded version of the 800-cc engine, now to be BS IV compliant and tuned for better fuel efficiency, which is the need of the hour.
According to company sources, this sudden demand for diesel cars has put Maruti Suzuki in a fix about the pricing and positioning of the new Alto 800. Numerous closed-door meetings and debates are being held on whether the company should also consider to phase out the older Alto or whether the new version should be placed between the older Alto, which sells from Rs 2.90 lakh onwards, and the Alto K10, priced from Rs 3.28 lakh (OTR, Pune). The problem is that if the new car-buyers have an option of a newer model, many would postpone their purchase, sending shivers down dealerships which have stocked a huge inventory of the current Alto.
The company sells about 25,000 units a month of the Alto series, which, compared to the Hyundai Eon’s 8,000 units, is significantly high. The new Alto 800 is set to be launched on the 16th of October and is expected to appear in showrooms around the end of this month to make the most of the festive season. All Maruti Suzuki need to do is introduce another reliable and cost-effective model and the company’s goodwill will ensure good numbers to roll in.
Photography: Cardekho.com
