Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 discontinued. Details here

Maruti Suzuki has reportedly discontinued its bestselling car Alto 800. The highest-selling car's production in the Indian market has reportedly been stopped as the company doesn't see it financially viable to upgrade the small hatchback to the BS6 Phase 2 emission norms. Livemint reports that upgrading the hatchback to the new stringent emission norms would result in a significant price hike for the model. Further, spikes in road tax, raw material costs, and other forms of taxation are the other reasons for rising vehicle acquisition costs, which influenced the decision.

Maruti Suzuki India's Senior Executive Officer for Marketing and Sales, Shashank Srivastava, reportedly said that sales in the entry-level hatchback segment have been declining over the years. “What we have observed is that the entry-level hatchback segment, where the Alto 800 operates, has been coming down over the years," he added. Srivastava also said that the volumes declined because the cost of vehicle acquisition in the entry-level segment has increased substantially over the past few years.

Speaking about the reasons behind the decision, Srivastava has further said that besides the increased cost of acquisition, the income level of customers in this segment has not increased proportionately, which is another reason behind the slumping sales in the category. The increased cost of acquisition and static income level has lowered affordability for vehicle purchases in this segment, which is why the overall sales volume in this category has dropped significantly.

The report further stated that another factor that played a key role in halting Maruti Suzuki Alto 800's production is the rise in demand for the Maruti Suzuki Alto K10, the bigger sibling of the 800 cc hatchback. "It was decided that we should discontinue the Alto 800 and, in any case, the Alto K10 will be our main model henceforth in this segment," Srivastava reportedly said.