[TusharK]

Maruti Suzuki has discontinued the entry-level variants of the Alto and S-Presso. The Alto range now starts from Rs. 4.08 lakh, while the S-Presso costs Rs. 3.98 lakh (ex-showroom).



Dual airbags are now mandatory, hence, variants that used to be offered with a single airbag have been taken off the shelves. These include the STD, STD (O) and LXI variants of the Alto and STD, LXI and VXI variants of the S-Presso.

The Alto comes with an 800cc petrol engine that puts out 47 BHP and 69 Nm. The engine is mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. There are two CNG variants on offers as well.



The S-Presso is powered by a 1.0-litre petrol engine that makes 67 BHP and 90 Nm. It is offered with either a 5-speed manual or 5-speed AMT. The S-Presso is also available with a factory-fitted CNG kit. It comes in three variants - LXI, LXI (O) and VXI (O).

Link to Team-BHP News

[darkfantasy]

So, no new cars below 5 Lakhs on road now? Also, the base Alto now costs 10k more than the base S-Presso. Now, with the impending introduction of mandatory 6 air bags - the base price is going to move further north. The government is doing well to achieve its aim of pricing out the lower middle classes.

Already I can see 5-year-old Altos listed for resale at nearly their original on-road price and Nanos listed even at higher prices than their sticker price. Existing entry-level cars are going to appreciate further in the second-hand market.

[anjan_c2007]

Signals the overall "NO ENTRY" scenario at the entry level. Maruti has truly commenced the "new normal" offering of its car range. The government seems to be unduly worried about the lives of car occupants only. I wish that the government gets much more worried about safety features on and strict checking of overloaded commercial vehicles and the sardine like, human packed three wheelers/ taxis that take many more human lives during tragic accidents. But these are the traffic police's and RTO's mobile cash ATM's for earning black money.

Yes, increasing the number of airbags for cars is OK from the safety point of view. But correspondingly they need to reduce the GST of 18 % (for 4000 mm and lesser lengths and those smaller engines) and 28 % (the more energetic biggies with lots of mechanical adrenalin according to the government) to realistic levels so that safer cars are affordably priced.

Until the GST is rationalised we will continue to get cars with 2 or later 6 airbags that are not affordably priced for the middle class, entry level buyers. Such buyers will flock the used car markets hence !

[Blooming Flower]

A 800cc engined car costs more than a 1L engine! Real thing to ponder over.

[Vishal.R]

Maruti could have added one airbag (which was available as optional) on Lxi. Certain Models like Std (No Power Steering, No A/C) were anyways just for low entry price.

This also shows that they must be getting very low response on these models including Lxi.

Customers nowadays prefer certain features like basic music system front power windows etc. even in entry segment car.

Another factor could be chip shortage. Manufacturers need to keep portfolio simple for batter inventory management, so removing less popular models makes sense.

[GTO]

It's a seller's market out there, industry has a chip shortage and the profit margins on base variants (especially of economy cars) are wafer-thin.

Quite telling that the cheapest car in India costs over 5-lakh rupees OTR. It's mayhem all around. The top variants of cars like the Creta & Seltos touch almost 22 lakhs, an Innova Crysta ZX AT crosses 31 lakhs, while the C-Class is 60 lakhs.

Market has gone absolute bonkers.

[BoneCollector]

So this means that the Alto would be available only in the VXi and VXi+ (Maruti Alto 800 : Official Review) variants. Alto still has a good fan following over the S-Presso. I know 2 people who went ahead with an Alto purchase and didn't consider the S-Presso.

[Dr.Abhi]

Is there any news of Spresso Dualjet launch? Earlier there was a rumor of april launch of spresso and ignis dualjet.