Priced at Rs 3.8 lakh, new Alto K10 is critical for Maruti to boost sales

The new Alto K10 could not have come at a better time for Maruti Suzuki India. The company has seen its market size in entry level car segment decline in recent months as buyers postpone purchases. This is true for most car segments but critical in the case of entry level buyers. Which is why an improved K10 with better fuel efficiency and an AMT version should help Maruti notch up better sales in the coming months.

The new Alto K10 comes in six variants - four manual transmission variants, one each of AMT and CNG. The car claims mileage of 24.07 kmpl for the automatic and AMT variants and a much improved 32.26 km per kg for the CNG variant.

“Alto K10 is the third Maruti Suzuki car within few weeks where our suppliers and engineers have improved the fuel efficiency substantially. We are positioning the new car as a mass market product equipped with futuristic technology to cater to very demanding, value conscious customers,” Managing Director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa said today.

The new car has been developed at a cost of Rs 200 crore on the existing platform of the model by its engineers along with counterparts at parent Suzuki Motor Corp in Japan.

After the Celerio, the Alto K10 will be the second model to be equipped with auto gear shift or AMT feature.

The new Alto K10 is coming at a time when MSI’s sales in the mini segment comprising Alto and WagonR witnessed 1.3 per cent decline in the April-September period this fiscal at 2,01,721 units as against 2,04,335 units in the year-ago period. In September 2014 it stood at 35,547 units as against 41,061 in the same month last year, down 13.4 percent.

First launched in 2010, the Alto K10 has clocked cumulative sales of 4.3 lakh units in four years. The Alto brand overall, including the Alto 800, has sold 26 lakh units in 14 years since launch.