Maruti Alto family to get new model

The Maruti Suzuki Alto is the largest selling car in India and has been for quite some time now. As of today, one can buy three distinctive body styles of the Alto in India: 1 - the standard older car with its tried and tested 0.8-litre, 3-cylinder motor, 2 - the slightly updated Alto K10 with the relatively new 1.0-litre motor and 3 - the updated Alto800 with an all-new body and the same 0.8-litre motor as the original Alto. Now though, as has always been the case with Maruti, there will soon be a 4^th member to the Alto family.

The new car will be based on the original Alto’s body but will get the more powerful K10 engine. The original Maruti Suzuki Alto, now on sale in India for 14 years will see a return to a 4-cylinder engine after almost a decade. The K10 engine, a 4-cylinder, 16 valve motor is good for 68PS of peak power at 6200rpm and 90Nm of peak torque at 3500rpm. The engine is mated to the same 5-speed gearbox that does duty in most Maruti products although we suspect this new model will also get the AMT gearbox that has recently been introduced in the Celerio.

This new version of the Alto is also expected to get a few facelifted exterior details like updated headlamps, tail lamps and an updated interior. We also expect Maruti to slightly drop the price of the standard Alto and slot this higher powered version in between the standard and K10 versions right alongside the Alto800. Although this will saturate the segment to a level never before imagined, the effect it will have on cars like the Hyundai Eon (which also comes with both an 0.8-litre and a 1.0-litre engine) and the Tata Nano will be even more important. Tata in particular, now more than ever, needs to bring out the updated Nano with the more powerful petrol and diesel engine if it wants to intends in contention in the small car segment.