Maruti to beat SUV craze, anti-petrol mindset with new Alto

The product will be the first small-car launch in India since Renault's Pulse hit the roads earlier in the year. CNBC-TV18's Ronojoy Banerjee explains, quoting sources, what can be expected from the new Alto 800 and how it will differ from the existing model.

Come November, Maruti Suzuki will unveil a variant of its best-selling model till date - the Alto. Internally code-named 'Y3', the proposed 800cc small-car is being developed with an eye to resurrect the company's small-car segment which has fallen 22.7% during the fiscal.

Company sources say that the new 800cc car will sport a completely new look even though it is built on the same platform of the existing Alto and with the same three-cylinder, 796cc engine. Sources say the overall look and feel of the car will be very contemporary with a new set of head- and rear-lamps, sturdier and more prominent bumpers, and new interiors.

The new Alto will not be positioned against the Nano. In fact, at the company's AGM on August 28, Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava emphatically denied reports of any plans of using the car to take-on the Tata Nano.

Sources say Maruti will position the car at a price slightly higher than the base model of the Alto which starts at around Rs 2.4 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). A final decision on pricing, though, would be decided closer to the launch date.

Despite the hype surrounding the launch of the new Alto, Maruti's biggest hurdle will be to turn around the current anti-petrol mindset of the Indian consumer.