Wednesday, May 09, 2012
By Manoj Kumawat
Maruti mulls a new small car to replace Alto
As per fresh rumours, India’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India is mulling to develop a new small car that will replace the ageing Maruti Alto.
The new car will be conceived on the Alto platform and will be powered with the same 800cc petrol mill. The aim behind bringing the substitute model of Alto is to resurrect the mounting sales of Alto which skidded due to fall in demand for petrol powered cars. It is also indicated that the new replacement could be Maruti Cervo that may be introduced during the upcoming festival season.
| See More Maruti Alto Photos | Get Maruti Alto Price |
Due to the sky rocketing petrol prices and a huge gap between petrol and diesel prices, all the attention has been shifted to diesel powered cars and petrol cars get the least priority. In the fiscal year 2011-2012, diesel driven cars accounted for almost 40% of the new car sales. Apart from developing a substitute for Alto hatchback, the company will also dole out lucrative and remunerative offers to temp the prospective customers to the showrooms. Maruti is offering massive discount on petrol powered cars to encourage sales of petrol driven cars. The discount offers were the highest in the month of March, which was the last month of the fiscal year 2011-2012.
| See More Maruti Cervo Photos | Get Maruti Cervo Price |
Maruti Alto, a popular car in the A segment is also up for grabs at a lucrative cash discount ranging between Rs 22,000 to Rs 25,000. In the last financial year Maruti found itself in the tight spot due to the surging demand of diesel cars in India. However, the sales of petrol powered cars of Maruti accounted for 56% of the total market share, but the company sold just one in five diesel cars during that time slot. Currently almost every diesel car on the waiting list belongs to Maruti Suzuki India. The backlog of diesel cars in India is nearly around four lakhs, out of which 1.8 lakh cars belong to Maruti. Maruti has scaled up the diesel capacity but the backlog of diesel cars will take some time to vanish. At present the company’s focal point is driving the sales of petrol cars, despite low demand, petrol cars account for approximately 50% of the overall market share.
