A highly competitive Indian small car market has set-off alarm bells for the country’s undisputed market leader Maruti Suzuki, which is chalking out new plans to maintain the lead.
One of their plans is to reintroduce the Alto with a better engine, at a lower price. Alto — an above-entry level car — is the largest selling model in the country. “We have learnt that Maruti is fitting the Alto with a new K-series engine and keep its price under Rs 2 lakh to stay ahead of competition. However, it is unclear as to how they will make it financially feasible,” an industry analyst said. The company will try to cut down certain features in order to keep down the price. There may be few minor cost effective chan-ges with the interiors, too.
When contacted, the Maruti chairman, Mr R.C. Bhargava, said, “It is not possible to comment on the price or the launch date of a new vehicle in advance. We need to keep these confidential details under wraps to maintain the suspense in the market.” The new Alto is expected in the current financial year but company officials are tight-lipped about the exact launch date.
The Japanese carmaker is facing a gaping hole in the entry-level segment after phasing out its “old war-horse” Maruti 800 from the top 13 cities in the country following the application of BS IV norms. Moreover, apart from small car players, luxury car makers such as Ford, GM and Volkswagen have also ventured into the compact car segment to play the volume game. Small cars account for 70 per cent of the total sales.
However, another Maruti official downplayed the perception that the company is under pressure from other car makers to maintain its market share. He also deni-ed any plans of offering Alto at a trimmed down price.
The official said, “Al-to would be given a facelift. Every model goes through a facelift in every 2-3 years. It is a normal process. In case of Alto, there has not been any change for a long time. This has nothing to do with the competition.”