Will a face-lift be enough to save the Alto 800?

[Jijo_Malayil]

Update:- Maruti Suzuki has launched the new Alto 800 at 2.49 lakh rupees (ex-showroom, Delhi). Check out the details here

One of the largest selling cars in India, the Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 is scheduled to get a face-lift soon. The new set of vehicles have already started to arrive in the dealer yards around the country. So, what is different? As with the majority of the face-lifts, it’s just cosmetic. Alto 800 gets a slimmer grille, new bumpers with hexagonal air dams and provisions for fog lamps. The head lamps also gets a clear lens pattern instead of the smoked one seen earlier. Hope you have noticed that there is no chrome, Thank God

Interior design remains identical. But, seems to have got a different music system which incorporates AUX and USB connectivity now. New texture fabrics are also seen. Alto 800 will be powered by the same 796cc engine which produces 48 PS of power. It gets a driver side airbag as an option across variants.

The Question is, will this be enough to stop Renault Kwid slowly racing away to become the largest selling entry level hatch? The only thing that is going for Alto 800 is the Maruti Suzuki badge it comes with. With the entry of Datsun redi-Go, things are bound to get tougher for Maruti Suzuki to hold on to its current sales figures. What say?

Alto 800 retails from Rs. 2.57-3.78 lakhs (ex-showroom, New Delhi). Rivals the Renault Kwid, Hyundai Eon, Tata Nano and the upcoming Datsun redi-Go in India. Check out our Hyundai Eon vs Renault Kwid vs Alto 800 comparison.

Image Courtesy:- Autocar

[Roshun]

The Alto 800 facelift is just Maruti's running strategy to keep the product fresh. And about time too. Last month, for the first time Maruti was really worried. Alto sales dropped from 22,100 cars the previous month to just 16,500 odd cars. In the same period, the Renault Kwid sold 9700 plus cars for the second month running. Eating into the Alto's pie? You bet! And now you have the Datsun redi-GO, based on the same platform as the Kwid about to go on sale in June with a price tag of Rs. 2.5 lakh to Rs. 3.5 lakh. I've just returned from a first drive of the Datsun redi-Go, and I will have a full report on the car up on Saturday (May 14), as it's embargoed. Can the redi-Go pose a threat to the Alto? My opinion: Yes, it can. Neither the Kwid nor the redi-Go would really overtake the Alto in sales owing to Maruti's reach, but they definitely can take a chunk out of Maruti's sales. So yes, a facelift in time, will probably freshen it's appeal. Trouble is, that facelift doesn't really look like much of a change. This is what Maruti calls "MMC" - minor model change and it does it on average every 2 years or so.

[rajnish]

I wonder if the current Alto will pass the Indian crash tests to be introduced from October 2017. If not, Maruti may be looking to bring a new model to the market soon, and this may just be a stop gap arrangement to stem the fall in sales for the time being. That probably explains why it is only a minor model change & not a more updated model.

Here there is some news of a new Alto model in the pipeline, to pass the 2017 tests.

Also Roshun I am looking forward to your report on the Redi-GO.

[Jijo_Malayil]

The new face-lifted Alto 800 is all set to launch today. Two new shades available, Mojito Green and Cerulean Blue. Not much have changed right? Slimmer grille with redesigned bumpers that now includes slots for fog lamps looks smart. This is the new Mojito Green shade on display.

Interiors get this new dual-tone dash, different textured seats and an updated music system which incorporates Aux/USB connectivity now. Still, the whole design theme looks odd to me. What potential customers will appreciate is the better fuel efficiency figures, 24.7 kmpl against 22.7 kmpl in the older version. While, the CNG version now gets a claimed figure of 33.4 km/kg.

Safety kit, only an optional driver side airbag. But, the new Alto 800 comes fitted with a 6.5-inch brake booster for improved braking performance. Still, no ABS though! Maruti is not in position to hike prices right now, so expect the prices to remain the same. With Renault Kwid and Datsun redi-Go slated to give the Alto 800 a run for its money, Maruti can't afford to make a mistake now. What do you guys think?

[Arjun]

Maruti couldn't have got the timing better.
On one side when the Kwid was giving the Alto a run for its money, Maruti has managed to bring the Alto in the news with this facelift.
Even though there are no mechanical differences, we will have two negative news about the Kwid and the new launch of the Alto flooding our computer screens at the same time.
While the Alto itself has not fared well in crash tests earlier, the launch of the new car while Kwid is struggling with NCAP and temporary production halt is a great move by Maruti.

However about the facelift, it looks like the Altos are getting uglier in every iteration. Compared to the first version of Alto, most of the facelifts have just made the car ugly.Every new variant manages to be uglier than the earlier.One good thing I see here, is the vents for fog lamps which was missing in the earlier facelift. The logo placement looks bad and the thinning grill isn't going good with the car's looks.
The Music system upgrade was needed in order to compete with the Kwid and Nano, but still they have not matched it up to their levels.

[Jijo_Malayil]

Arjun Yeah, the logo looks lost amidst the new updates. But, I like the fact that there is no chrome! They should have retained that smoked headlamps though. Moving on, Alto fared better in the crash test when compared to Kwid. At least the structure remained intact! But, as we all know, that is not likely to dent Kwid sales numbers in anyway.

[Jijo_Malayil]

A few screenshots from the brochure. Remote central locking feature available now.

Interiors are utilitarian, can't term it stylish though! New textures and a dual tone dash on offer.

Powered by the same 796 cc engine. Rear child locks added to list of safety features.

More colour options. Here is the whole list of shades on offer. Dimensions remain the same.

Specification and variant wise features on offer.

[Jijo_Malayil]

Maruti Suzuki has launched the updated Alto 800 at a starting price of 2.49 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). That is 8000 rupees cheaper than the outgoing model, the Kwid/redi-Go effect? Alto 800 rivals entry hatch backs like the Hyundai Eon, Renault Kwid, Tata Nano and the upcoming Datsun redi-Go in India.

What is different with this new Face-lift?

Here are the variant wise prices (ex-showroom, New Delhi) :-

STD - Rs 2,49,000
LX - Rs 2,83,000
LXI - Rs 3,09,000
LXI CNG - Rs 3,70,000
VXI - Rs 3,28,000

Add 6,000 rupees to each variant and you get a driver's side airbag.

[Shreyans]

Add 6,000 rupees to very variant you get a driver's side airbag. [/B]

Is this an attempt at humor by Maruti?

This car is a tin can on wheels, whose roof crumples and chassis fails in a crash. The airbag WILL NOT function as it should. It cannot, as airbags work on the assumption that the distance between the seat and the steering stays constant upon impact. On the contrary, there is a very good chance that its explosive inflation causes further injury to the driver.

[Jijo_Malayil]

Here is a comparison chart of Alto 800 with its possible rivals. Alto 800 is the cheapest out of the lot, will that be enough? Kwid still looks like better value for money! Datsun redi-Go, on the other hand looks promising!

[Sukhpreet Singh]

The Alto 800 did need a face-lift for sure. And for once, in ages, I;ve seen a manufacturer not go for the chrome fetish option :P . That personally speaking is a good thing. I really like how the grille is fused with the entire front fascia and does not look like a paste-job. Goes with the entire front-end. Looks chic but still it does not offer wh at Renault does. Tall-stance! Nonetheless, it would still do decent numbers (actually good numbers) for Maruti.