Maruti not to phase out 800

As a result, its nearest competitor, be it Hyundai or Tata motors, was placed at least five steps above the Maruti at the entry-level in terms of price, he said. Maruti was now offering four different products in the price range of Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 3.25 lakh against the starting point of Rs. 3.25 lakh for ‘Santro’ and ‘Indica’, he explained. With the repositioning of the ‘Alto’, average monthly sales of the comopact car have gone up by 9,000 units a month from an average 2,000, while ‘Maruti 800’ continued to sell around 13,000 units a month, he said.

There will be some cannibalisation with the repositioning of the ‘Alto’ but with two more variants of the compact car — ‘Lxi’ and ‘Vxi’ — along with ‘Zen’ and ‘WagonR’, Maruti’s competitiors were likely to lose out, he said.

MUL launched the non-AC ‘Alto’ model this month, reducing the price gap between ‘Maruti 800’ and ‘Alto’ by just Rs 23,000. ‘‘When people ask about the phasing out of ‘maruti 800’, I have no other answer but to say they do not know India. ‘Maruti 800’ has motorised the country. We will continue to fulfill common Indians’ dream of owning a car at an affordable price,’’ Khattar said. MUL, which is 54.2 per cent owned by Suzuki Motor Corp. of Japan, aims to increase market share in the entry-level category with a Rs 2,599 EMI scheme for the ‘Maruti 800’. The ‘B’ segment ‘Alto’ will be made available almost at the price of an ‘A’ category car’.

The new positioning would help Maruti customers to upgrade from ‘Maruti 800’ to a vehicle which is within reach and those who want a compact car within a price band of Rs three lakh. ‘‘We have positioned ‘Alto’ in such a way that it will cater to the needs of all such customers,’’ he said.

Alto, which is a success in the European markets and the mainstay of Maruti’s exports, has been 90 per cent indigenised and this has helped the company to bring down the prices of the car.