Largest selling car Alto from Maruti Suzuki is all set for a major upgradation next month. On August 4, Maruti Suzuki will launch ‘Alto K10' that will be powered by a more responsive 998cc K-Series engine and a new cable type transmission, besides increased length of 125mm to make it the longest car in the A-2 segment. It will deliver a mileage of 20.2 km a litre. “With this launch, we will continue with our ‘dual model' or ‘multiple model' strategy. The existing Alto 800cc will continue to be produced and sold along with Alto K10 model. Alto K10 clearly fits in to the likes of an aspirational entry level customer, who is value conscious, but does not want to compromise on performance, features, style and attitude,” Maruti Suzuki India Chief General Manager (Marketing) Shashank Srivastava told journalists here.
“With this launch the company aims to strengthen its position in the competitive A-2 segment. At present the company enjoys a market share of over 54 per cent in the compact car segment. Together with Alto K10, the company aims the Alto brand to attain a mark of 3-lakh units annually. We are expecting about 25 per cent increase in Alto's sales after the launch of the new variant,” Mr. Srivastava added. Alto sells over 20,000 units a month, making it India's No.1 selling car.
Interestingly, Maruti Suzuki India will also launch five cars in CNG version next month. They are Alto, compact cars Estilo and WagonR, multi-purpose vehicle Eeco and mid-sized sedan SX4. According to Mr. Srivastava, “the CNG models will be important in our portfolio. We are the first company to come out with factory-fitted CNG cars and we will have the first mover's advantage in the market.”
Significantly, MSIL is going for aggressive launches after its share fell to 47.59 per cent in first quarter of the current fiscal from earlier over 55 per cent in the 15-lakh units per year domestic car segment. It had sold over 2-lakh units during the quarter in a total market of 4.33-lakh units.
