The Alto gets a new, peppier heart. Are Maruti Suzuki just cluttering up their portfolio with one more product or will they succeed in creating a new breed of consumers?
Words: Adhish Alawani
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
The biggest player in the Indian four-wheeler market has its own strategies that help it in being the market leader. With 12 cars in the portfolio and over 50 variants in all, there is no reason for Maruti Suzuki to be unsuccessful in selling more than anyone else does. What does this manufacturer do when it fulfills the demands of its existing consumers? Simple. They create a new class of consumers altogether!
Now consider the Alto, which, on average, has been selling over 20,000 units per month for the past one-and-a-half years. The Alto has indisputably been the best selling car in India in the past 68 months. However, post-Alto, the car that Maruti Suzuki offer in the lineup is the A-Star, priced at Rs 85,000 over and above the top-end version of the Alto. That, the company felt, was a huge gap and one that needed to be bridged pronto. To add to that, it was high time the company upgraded the Alto to suit the BSIV emission norms.
The boffins at Maruti Suzuki thought that a car that offered the entry-level compactness coupled with the power of a slightly higher-segment machine would probably do the job. Plus, if they fiddled with an existing car and offered it with a new engine that complied with the new stringent norms, it would solve the other issue as well. What was the result? The Alto K10 was born!
What, then, is so special about this new Alto? Just a cursory look and one can make out that the Alto has undergone a facelift that includes new aggressive headlamps and curvy tail-lamps, a re-profiled front grille and bumper, a slightly modified tail gate and 13” wheels, besides small bits and pieces here and there that include new side mouldings and stylish wheel covers. Inside, it’s the same familiar dashboard. However, the three-pot instrument cluster gets an upgrade and houses a digital trip-meter and a bar-type fuel gauge. A three-spoke steering wheel replaces the drab old one. A sporty gear knob, new cup holders, new upholstery shades and a rear parcel tray etc. succeed in upgrading the interiors just that little bit to keep it looking fresh.
1. The 1.0-litre K10B engine pumps out 68 PS of peak power and 90 Nm of torque, which have made the new Alto K10 a lot more peppier than the previous one
2.The fresh instrument console sports a tachometer, speedometer and digital tripmeter
The real deal offered by the Alto K10, however, lies under its hood. The three pots of the K10B engine together displace 998 cc. Peep into the Maruti Suzuki portfolio and you will realise that it is the same heart that is shared by the new Zen Estilo, A-Star and the blue-eyed tallboy, Wagon R. While the existing version of the Alto is powered by a 796 cc engine pumping out 47.6 PS of peak power, the new one boasts of 68 PS; a rise of over 40 per cent in peak power delivery. Similarly, the torque output has gone up from 62 Nm to 90 Nm, which adds to the peppy feel we spoke about earlier, especially at lower revs.
The bonnet of the Alto has grown longer in order to accommodate the new, bigger powerplant and the overall length is 125 mm more than the existing version. The wheelbase of the car remains the same, though.
Maruti Suzuki had arranged a drive in the new Alto K10 for us from the Angsana Resort on the outskirts of Bangalore to the top of Nandi Hills. I was quite impressed by the fact that they had confidently chosen a set of roads that included a two-lane state highway, a six-lane expressway and an extremely narrow and steep uphill road to Nandi Hills.
The flats didn’t excite me much and I was keenly looking forward to the uphill section of the drive. Being a small and compact car, I had a feeling that the Alto might struggle a bit when it came to climbing up the steep sections. However, it soon became apparent that Maruti hadn’t mapped the route to humiliate themselves. They were clear about their intentions and knew what their latest product had to offer.
The facts unfolded gradually as the Alto K10 made its way all the way uphill with utter confidence. I remember driving the Alto (800 cc version) uphill and I had to turn off the AC, shift into the first cog and push the car to its limit to make it to the top. However, the K10, with three people on board and the AC doing its duty faithfully, could scale some of the steepest climbs easily even in the second gear. Impressive, that!
And it’s not just this torquey and powerful motor alone that does the job of impressing you. The new five-speed manual synchromesh gears with cable-type gearshift mechanism have created a world of a difference. On the open highways, the Alto K10 could easily manage speeds in excess of 140 km/h.
After driving for about 150 km, I could easily sense the success that Maruti is about to claim with the K10. The company has created a new class of entry-level car with higher performance assured. However, we feel that the claimed acceleration figure of 0-100 km/h in 13.3 seconds seems a little far-fetched.
The car’s fuel efficiency and exact performance will be tested once we get the Alto K10 for a complete road test. Until then, we can definitely assure you that this car is on its way to creating a new segment for itself!
1. The small recess at the back of the front seats has added 50 mm of extra knee room at the rear without any changes to the actual cabin
2. A bold front grille is topped with a chrome lining. New headlamps, fog lamps and bumper are aggressive
3. The sporty gear knob gives a good feel to the much improved gearbox
4. Tail lamps and tail gate have also been given cosmetic upgrades
