India’s most loved car, Alto, would soon receive an entirely new facelift. Maruti Suzuki is refreshing the popular Maruti hatchback with a new BS6 motor, advanced safety measures and total cosmetic updates. According to sources from Maruti, the new Alto facelift is expected to roll out by 2019 end.
Introduced in the year 2000, Maruti Alto hatchback has proved to be India’s top-selling and most-loved car and in-demand for more than a decade until the Maruti Suzuki Dzire arrived in the market. Alto came in place of the Maruti 800 as its initial model and went on to sell over 35 lakh models till date.
Kenichi Ayukawa, MD of Maruti, said that the “existing Alto has become older, and we have to upgrade”. Maruti Alto is offered with a choice of two petrol motors – the actual 800cc engine and the more robust 1,000cc (K10) engine.
As per officials from Maruti, “heavy changes” will be done in the new Alto’s design language keeping in mind the increasing rivalry in the hatchback category, for example, the Renault Kwid which has an SUV-type styling. As part of the safety measures, the new Maruti Suzuki Alto facelift model is expected to be more reliable, safe and steady in compliance with the new safety and crash test standards.
The new Maruti Alto price in India will be officially announced upon launch, however, as per sources, Maruti will try to price it around the cost of the current line-up. In comparison with 2.57 lakh units sold in 2017, Maruti sold 2.56 lakh Alto cars in 2018.
