auto news desk, Maruti Suzuki is going to shock its customers. Maruti Suzuki Alto 800, which has been ruling the Indian market for years, may be discontinued by the company. Maruti has reportedly discontinued its entry-level model Alto 800, reports India Today. If reports are to be believed, the company has stopped production of one of its best selling hatchback cars. It is the cheapest car available in the country. The Alto K10 will now serve as the entry-level model from Maruti, priced between Rs 3.99 lakh and Rs 5.94 lakh ex-showroom.
The report states that the Alto 800 needed to be upgraded to comply with the BS6 Phase-II norms, which are going to be implemented from April, due to which it was necessary to increase its cost and price, which is impractical. In the report, Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki India, said, ‘We observed that the sales of cars in the entry-level hatchback segment have declined in the last few years. The biggest reason for this is that the cost of making vehicles in this segment has increased considerably.
Another reason to close
The report further states that the increase in the price of the car is due to the increase in road tax, material cost and other taxes. Srivastava said that most of the people who buy cars in this segment come from the middle class, whose income has not increased in the last few years. This has had a huge impact on car sales. Hence there has been a decrease in the number of buyers of vehicles in this segment. Apart from this, even after the launch of Alto K10, the sales of 800 model have come down.
Millions of people have bought this car
The Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 is priced between Rs 3.54 Lakh to Rs 5.13 Lakh, ex-showroom. The Alto 800 gets a 796cc petrol engine, which produces 48 PS of power and 69 Nm of peak torque. Maruti launched the current model of Alto 800 in the year 2010 with major updates. Maruti sold 1,800,000 units of this car till 2010. After this Alto K10 was launched in the Indian market. Maruti has sold 1,700,000 units of the Alto 800 and 950,000 units of the Alto K10 since 2010.