Maruti Suzuki to revamp its Alto hatchback

Suzuki Motor’s Indian arm Maruti Suzuki is going to develop a new generation Alto and strengthen its hold in the entry-car space.

Alto’s share dropped nearly to 40% -48% with the launch of Renault Kwid. Kwid, however, has been able to gain almost 20% of the segment sales. The average monthly sales of the Alto have come down to 19,000-20,000 from 21,500 in the last fiscal year.


As per the sources, the company has started working on the project which internally is being called Y1K. The new-generation Alto is most likely to be launched by the festive season of 2019. The car will be the most expressive Alto anyone has ever seen and may even sport a crossover deign, they said.

As the car will be engineered and made in India, it will be tailored as per the Indian market need.

"While the company has made strong headway in the premium end of the market with the Baleno, Vitara Brezza and Ciaz, it will never lose sight of its bread-and-butter segment ... as the largest carmaker, Maruti needs to have a solid option for the prospective buyer and Y1K is an initiative on that front,” a person in Maruti Suzuki asking anonymity, told ET.

The new-generation Alto will be engineered and designed based on a new platform so as to meet new regulations. "The hardware and technology will come from Suzuki, the putting together of hardware - that is design, engineering and validation will be all done by the Indian team with local inputs” a second person told ET. A Maruti spokesperson said as a policy, the company does not comment on future product plans.

Maruti has lost share in the entry A car space, but has been expanding the share B segment, priced between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 12 lakh and led by the new Baleno, Ciaz and Brezza.

Maruti is most likely to revamp its WagonR hatchback and Celrio tool in the next three years as part of its plan to launch 15 new products by 2020.
(image: Indiatimes)