Maruti Alto K10 most affordable car with automatic gear shift technology

The country’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India, on Tuesday launched the country’s most affordable small car with automated gear shift (AGS) technology, Alto K10, priced at Rs 3.98 lakh (ex-showroom Bangalore).

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 3.23 lakh and Rs 3.55 lakh (ex-showroom Bangalore). The auto gear shift variant of the car with petrol engine is priced at Rs. 3.98 lakh (ex-showroom Bangalore).

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) Executive Director (Marketing and Sales) R S Kalsi said. The company has sold 2.6 million Alto cars since it was launched 14 years ago, he added.

Convenience factor

“We have sold over 4 lakh units of Alto K10 in the last four years,” Kalsi 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.