In the Indian automobile market it is said that the customer’s preferences are shifting to family cars rather than personal cars. But the recorded sales figures still show that the small hatchbacks are more in demand. The hatchback segment B2 where the Swift, the i10, the Grand i10 and i20 are the leaders is showing more sales than the A segment. The brand Maruti remains at the top among the most preferred cars followed by the Hyundai and the Honda brands. The Maruti Alto has a sales figure of 30499 units for the month of June 2014 including the 800 cc and the 1000 cc variants.
Maruti Suzuki Alto first launched in the year 2000 has crossed the 25 lakh production mark in 2014. In October 2012, a new version of the Alto 800 has been launched priced between Rupees 2.49 and 3.63 lakh. The Alto 800 comes in seven petrol versions and 3 CNG versions. The Alto K10 launched in 2012 is available in 2 petrol version only. Alto K10 price Rupees 3.29 and 3.42 lakh, respectively.
The cabin of the Alto 800 has fabric seats, a manual steering, an engine immobilizer, a child lock facility and externally adjustable ORVMs. The airbag versions have air bags for the driver, a manual AC, a 2 Din music player with FM and AM radio, power steering and internally adjustable ORVMs. The engine of the Alto 800 is a 796 cc, 40 bhp, 69 NM torque engine giving a mileage of 22.74 kmpl. The dimensions of the Alto 800 are 3395 mm length, 1490 mm width, 1475 mm height and 160 mm ground clearance.
The cabin of the Alto K10 has a powerful AC, front power windows, tinted glasses, bench folding rear seat, a central locking system and a key-off reminder. Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 is powered by a 998 cc, 67.1 bhp, 90 NM, 12V K series engine giving a fuel economy of 20.92 kmpl. The external dimensions of the car are 3620 mm length, 1475 mm width, 1460 mm height and 160 mm ground clearance.
The suspension of the Alto is McPherson strut with torsion control device at the front and the coil spring with 3 link rigid axle and trailing arm type at the rear. The kerb weight of this 5 seater is just 760 kg and the fuel tank capacity is 35 litres.
The Alto is consistently showing sales figures of 16000 plus units per month for the last one year. The other cars like the Hyundai Eon, the Tata Nano and the Chevrolet Spark in the A segment are far behind in popularity. It seems that the popularity of this Maruti product will remain intact for few more years.
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