Maruti launches new Alto K10 priced up to Rs 3.82 lakh

The country's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, today launched the new generation of its small car Alto K10 that comes equipped with automated gear shift and is priced up to Rs 3.82 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

With an eye on reviving growth in its bread and butter mini car segment, the company has also improved the fuel efficiency of the model by 15 per cent.

The manual petrol variants of the new Alto K10 are priced between Rs 3.06 lakh and Rs 3.56 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), while the newly introduced CNG version is tagged at Rs 3.82 lakh (all prices ex-showroom).

The auto gear shift variant of the car with petrol engine is priced at Rs 3.80 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

Maruti is positioning the new car as a mass market product equipped with 'futuristic technology' to cater to "very demanding, value for money conscious customers."

It 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.

"Alto K10 is the third Maruti Suzuki car within few weeks where our suppliers and engineers have improved the fuel efficiency substantially," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Managing Director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa told reporters here.

The company has sold 2.6 million Alto cars since it was launched 14 years ago, he added.

"We have sold over 4 lakh units of Alto K10 in the last four years," Ayukawa said.After the Celerio, the Alto K10 is be the second model to be equipped with auto gear shift (AGS) feature.

It seeks to leverage on the convenience factor of the AGS with high fuel efficiency levels at affordable cost to woo entry-level customers. While the petrol version delivers a mileage of 24.07 km per litre, the CNG variant will have a fuel economy of 32.26 km per kg.

It will have six different variants and the AGS option will be available only with the top-end model.

The previous version of the Alto K10 was priced between Rs 3.15 lakh and Rs 3.31 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The new Alto K10 is coming at a time when MSI's sales in the mini segment, comprising Alto and WagonR, witnessed 2.6 per cent decline in the April-October period this fiscal at 2,37,474 units as against 2,43,714 units in the year-ago period.

In October 2014, it stood at 35,753 units as against 39,379 units in the same month last year, down 9.2 per cent.

Ayukawa said the new Alto K10, now also available with auto gear shift (AGS) feature, would help the company realise 10 per cent incremental sales of the model.

According to the company estimates, the newly launched AGS variant of the car would account for around 20 per cent of the total Alto K10 sales, he added.

Going forward, the company expects AGS equipped variants would account for almost 30-40 per cent of the company's entire small car portfolio, Ayukawa further said.

In order to meet the demand for the AGS, the company is in the process of setting up a manufacturing plant with its joint venture partner Italian firm Magneti Marelli at Manesar which is estimated to start production next year.