Maruti Alto: Most sold car in India, overtakes 800

The Maruti Suzuki Alto has just beaten the Maruti 800's cumulative sales by reaching 29 lakh households over its 15 year life cycle. In comparison, the Maruti 800 had reached over 27 lakh households at the time of its demise, in 2014, after ruling the Indian market for over two decades. Cumulative sales of the Alto as of October 2015 stand at 29,19,819 units.

It was in the year 2000 that Maruti launched the Alto as a more upmarket alternative to the Maruti 800 (then India's best selling model). The Alto was introduced in 2 variants - F8D (796cc) LX with 47 BHP and F10D (1061cc) VX with 63 BHP. Despite being more powerful, better equipped and priced merely Rs. 34,000 more than the 800 DLX, the Alto simply couldn't match the 800's volumes.

It was after some re-positioning of the two cars, prioritizing Alto's factory supplies over the 800's and some aggressive dealer push that the Alto managed to dethrone the 800 and become Maruti's new 'bread & butter' car. The 800 received such step-motherly treatment that it wasn't even upgraded to meet BSIV emission norms in 2010. In 2012, Maruti introduced a refreshed Alto 800 which cleverly capitalized on the Alto's as well as the 800's strong brand equity. Finally, in 2014 the ol' Maruti 800's production was completely rested.

Maruti's strong brand recall, superior resale value, widespread sales & support network and overall affordability, still makes the Alto the first choice for thousands of buyers across the country, consistently selling ~22,000 copies month after month.

Source: ET Auto