Maruti Suzuki to bring back Alto K10 hatchback

Entry-degree hatchbacks could be getting rid of market share to activity utility automobiles (SUVs), but the country’s premier passenger vehicle maker, Maruti Suzuki, proceeds to target on the class. According to resources, the enterprise will quickly reintroduce Alto K10, which was discontinued in March 2020. Currently, the car has been codenamed Y0M.

Sources explained the Alto K10, which has an engine capacity of 998 cc, is being reintroduced since the business feels there’s not considerably competition and there’s nevertheless a excellent industry in the section. Nowadays, apart from Maruti Suzuki’s possess S-Presso, the only other entry-level hatchback in India is Renault’s Kwid.

Gaurav Vangaal, associate director, light-weight car or truck forecasting, S&P World-wide Mobility, instructed FE that the recent industry share (7.8%) of entry-degree hatchbacks is significant adequate to just take in a new model. In FY22, Maruti Suzuki offered 211,762 models of Alto and S-Presso, and Renault sold 26,535 models of Kwid, building the entry-level hatchback a 250,000-device-robust market.

With 4.3 million models in almost 20 decades, Maruti Suzuki’s Alto is India’s greatest selling car, in phrases of cumulative income. Introduced in 2000, the very first era of Alto continued until 2012, when 1.8 million models of the motor vehicle ended up offered through the period of time.

It was available in two engine options—the 1,061 cc that it shared with the Wagon R and the 796 cc that it shared with Maruti 800.In 2005, Alto changed Maruti 800 as India’s major marketing auto, a situation it preserved until 2018 when Maruti Suzuki’s Dzire ended its 13-yr dominance.

Alto K10 was launched in 2010. It experienced an efficient and impressive 998-cc engine (it changed the 1,061-cc model), and this vehicle offered 880,000 units till it was discontinued in March 2020.

In Oct 2012, the next-technology Alto was released with a new title, Alto 800. It was also a substitute for Maruti 800 that was finally phased out in 2014. It has until now bought over 1.63 million units.

One of the motives K10 was phased out—but Alto 800 was retained—was because of falling product sales. “K10 was priced among Alto 800 and more substantial automobiles these types of as Swift. The consumer upgrading from a two-wheeler possibly selected Alto 800 (if the buyer was on a restricted finances) or the Swift or even entry-stage SUVs this kind of as the Vitara Brezza,” an ex-Maruti Suzuki govt explained to FE, adding: “The K10 was bypassed by a portion of potential buyers.

”This development got mirrored in the slipping sale share of entry-stage hatchbacks.In FY19, according to info from the Culture of Indian Auto Makers (SIAM), the entry-degree hatchback section fashioned 13.6 for every cent of passenger motor vehicle (PV) product sales, and experienced 5 models—Alto, the previous Wagon R, Hyundai Eon, Renault Kwid and Tata Nano.

In FY20, their income share dropped to 10.6 per cent, with the discontinuation of Nano and Eon, and Maruti Suzuki discontinuing the aged Wagon R but launching S-Presso.

In FY21, the share further more dropped to 9.8%, and to 7.8 for each cent in FY22. The second cause was S-Presso, the SUV-lookalike hatchback that Maruti Suzuki introduced in 2019 with the engine of the K10. It wasn’t a substitute for K10 but took absent some of its profits as it had the exact same engine and driveability, but supplied additional cabin space at pretty much similar rate.

The 3rd rationale was that slipping product sales of the K10 did not justify the expenditure that would have gone into generating it BS-6 Alto K10 was taken off the cabinets in March 2020, the identify of Alto 800 was also altered to just Alto.