Maruti Suzuki Alto 800: Maruti Suzuki India has stopped making the Alto 800, which was their entry-level car. Even though the company has stopped making the famous hatchback, it will only sell the few that are still in stock.
Since sales of entry-level hatchbacks are low, it would not have made “financial sense” to spend in making the Alto 800 meet the new BS6 Phase 2 standards, which go into effect on April 1.
In FY16, entry-level hatchbacks made up about 15% of the market and sold about 450,000 units. In FY23, it will be less than 7%, and about 250,000 units are scheduled to be sold.
The company’s entry-level model
Due to the fact that the vehicle was discontinued, the Alto K10 will now function as the company’s entry-level model. The price of the Alto K10 ranges from Rs 3.99 lakh to Rs 5.94 lakh. (ex-showroom, New Delhi). It costs between Rs 3.99 lakh and Rs 5.94 lakh. (ex-showroom, New Delhi).
The Alto 800 has a 796cc gasoline engine that can make up to 48PS of power and 69Nm of torque at its most powerful. It can also run on CNG. In CNG mode, the power and torque go down to 41PS and 60Nm, respectively. The only choice for gearbox is a 5-speed manual.
In 2000, India was the first country to sell the Maruti Suzuki Alto 800. Maruti had sold 1.8 million of the cars by 2010. In 2010, the Alto K10 came out on the market. From 2010 until now, the car company has sold 1.7 million Alto 800s and 950,000 Alto K10s. About 4,450,000 pieces of the Alto brand are sold each year.
The company has stopped making the Alto 800
India Today talked to Shashank Srivastava, the Senior Executive Officer for Marketing and Sales at Maruti Suzuki India. He said that the company has stopped making the Alto 800.
“What we’ve seen is that the entry-level hatchback segment, where it (the Alto 800) operates, has been going down over the years,” Srivastava said, adding that the volumes went down because the cost of buying vehicles in this segment went up a lot.
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The cost of buying a car is going up for a number of reasons, such as the price of materials going up, taxes like the road tax, registration tax, and other taxes going up, more features being added, and changes to the rules.
Srivastava pointed out that while the prices of cars in this segment have gone up, the incomes of people in this segment have not gone up at the same rate.
The cost of buying cars in this segment has gone down
“In other words, the cost of buying cars in this segment has gone down, which is why this segment’s overall volume and share of the market have gone down,” he said.
“The price sensitivity of this segment is extremely high, so when the affordability factor came down, it impacted demand in this segment much more than any other segment. Also, consumers have shifted towards the Alto K10, and as a result, the volumes of the Alto 800 going forward are expected to be relatively smaller, and we believe it will not be financially viable to make investments for changes in the Alto 800 to meet the demand,” he added.
Srivastava said that it had been decided to stop making the Alto 800, and that the Alto K10 would be our main model in this market from now on.
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