Maruti will launch a leaner, trimmer and cheaper Alto if reports in ET are anything to go by. With the 800 out of duty in the metros and its reduced appeal, Maruti will reposition the Alto to replace the 800. The new Alto will be stripped of all its present features (if it had any) like they did with the Eeco to price it as close as possible to the 800. This could mean that the 800 will be phased out earlier than we expected. With increased threat from Hyundai, Maruti is going aggressive to maintain Alto’s position as India’s largest selling car.

Although ET reports that the new Alto will come with the K10B 998cc engine from the A-star, we quite think it will retain the 800cc motor, retuned to meet BS-4. The K10B would be too ‘powerful’ and ‘expensive’ for the stripped out Alto. This could mean that the entire Maruti range is in for an exhaustive repositioning. This is good news for the customer when he has got so many choices in the market.

Maruti Chairman, RC Bhargava said: “The Alto will not be much more expensive than the 800 and we will keep trying to do whatever we can to make it more and more affordable.”

“The car will be in showrooms in the next couple of months but don’t expect major changes in design. The company doesn’t want to change the design of its highly successful car model and its not just Alto, Maruti is planning to refresh its entire car line up a new Wagon R which is also expected before end of April,” Bhargava added.

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