[sidindica]

LETS GO!



Boondon mein jaane kya naya re
Nachtee, balkhatee, lehratee, ehratee,
nakhre dikhati boondein
Tan man pighlati boondein
Boondein mein jaane kya naya hai

Its raining here in my house, raining and it keeps on raining.
There is nothing new on those rain droplets, yet it brings us oodles of pleasure, masti and perhaps relief from garmi aur paseena.

Yes, freedom from paseena. But whats life without a haseena?
Only haseena, no paseena.
Well, today I a celebrating Rakshabandhan. A festival of love. And bonding.
And this morning, I am waiting for many haseenas to tie me rakhis and bless me.
And all of a sudden one haseena comes in this l'il S badged wonder and starts singing dhan-ten-an.

India's largest selling car.
4 words, easy to say.
Difficult to achieve.
But how do you achieve this monumental status?
By saying, "lets go"!
Kehne ko to "do shabd" hai, lekin manzil paana koi bachche ka khel nahin.

Lets go back to September 14, 2000.
Lets go to an era when A star is born.
Lets go to a phase when a golden idea was conceived.
Lets go and analyse the golden ideas that generate into golden concepts.
Lets go and study the golden concepts that generate into golden executions.
Lets go and study those golden brains.
Lets go and score those golden goals.

10 grueling long years. Million units sold and counting.
Lets go and see the reasons why this l'il champ is every entry level Indian small car buyer's first choice.
Lets go and embark upon a journey of this little singing sensation.
So fasten your seat belts, turn on the ignition and lets go and pay a tribute........
Hey, did I say a tribute?
Hmm Hmm..
Perhaps, a fitting tribute. A tribute unlike any other.

Perhaps, lets go and see what it takes more to be than just a nameplate called the MARUTI SUZUKI ALTO.

Lets go on a journey, live here on team bhp where I'll take you to the story of Maruti Alto's Indian innings from where it started to where it is today.

But hey folks, before that, lets go and celebrate Raksha Bandhan, get Rakhis tied and exchange sweets and pledge on this relationship of brother sister bonding, "lets go together!"

Because its time to say, DHANTENAN !

[atrisarkar]

I somehow felt this was coming Sid! Way to go. Indeed one heck of a success story this is. Their "Hottest little car in town" tagline was etched in my mind forever.
We're all waiting for more.

[Utopian]

Waiting eagerly for the rest of the post. Alto is indeed one of the most prominent and hugely popular Indian hatchbacks.

[blackasta]

Here we go again! Hold on everyone - sid is taking us on another great ride down the memory lanes.

[sidindica]

THE HOTTEST LITTLE CAR IN TOWN

The alto is a nameplate which made its India debut in 2000, but perhaps its a name that has a long and a illustrious history in Suzuki's portfolio of compact cars. Its a nameplate that dates back to 1979 and continues on till today.

Cars like the 800 SS 80, 800 SB 308, the Zen MH 410 and even the present A-star still wear the alto nameplate in many parts of the world, including japan for the first four generations it was there, till present. No, there is really nothing unique about the alto. Its proven to be a basic, reliable entry level workhorse that is incredibly fuel efficient, fun to drive and extremely low on maintenance due to its relative simple technology. All merits that the maruti Suzuki brand is known for.

Back in 2000, the small car market started to boom and maruti felt the heat from immediate Korean competition, the santro and matiz. After 6 long years, the tallboy wagon R was launched in December 1999 but the car had a mediocre start, at best. The 7 year old zen, maruti's sole offering in "proper" small car segment had just received a thorough mechanical upgrade and kept chugging along well, so did the 800, which was the then India's numero uno. While I will not lay emphasis on small car wars and numbers here (there is another thread for that), its the importance of alto that we will discuss.

In August 2000, maruti started full teaser campaigns bearing the "hot" tag in both print and TV.

"Its hot. Its coming fast."

I studied in 10th standard (what a coincidence), and we used to get these newspapers and my classmates often used to ask me-what on earth is this?
Even this baffled me until one fine day I got a chance to pick and read the ACI, august 2000 issue which carried a exclusive preview of the maruti alto. The car looked convectional, had simple lines with a no nonsense quirkiness, simple easy to use practical dashboard, with focus on functionality and the interiors looked quite upscale (from maruti standards). The Japanese model was pictured which carried a 660 cc engine under its hood.

Of course, for India, many changes are being made while the fine tuning continues at maruti's facilities. A bigger, better and more powerful alto for India is getting readied as the launch date nears. Meanwhile, the first anniversary issue of ACI dated September 2000 finally breaks cover on the Indian alto with a full blown road test.

But many questions remain concerning the product, the mechanicals, the design, engineering, build, performance, mileage etc, all of which will be answered shortly. Does the new alto for India, based on Gen 4 model launched in 1998 in Japan live upto high expectations as with every launch from maruti stable?

Find out soon, as we track the Indian alto's launch and unique features in the next post.

But before that, lets go for a break, chillax and sing-Dhan-ten-an!!