Maruti Suzuki discontinues single-airbag trims of Alto, S-Presso

Maruti Suzuki has silently discontinued the single-airbag lower trims of its Alto and S-Presso models. The official website reveals the STD, STD (O) and LXi trims of the Alto have been discontinued, while STD and LXi trim of the S-Presso too have been shelved. With this move, LXi (O) becomes the new base trim for Maruti Suzuki Alto, while S-Presso's new base trim is STD (O).

Due to the discontinuation of the abovementioned trim options, Maruti Suzuki Alto is now available at a starting price of ₹408,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi), while the Maruti Suzuki S-Presso now comes available at a starting price of ₹399,500 (ex-showroom, Delhi). Pricing of Alto and S-Presso goes up to ₹503,000 and ₹564,000, respectively. Both the cars come available in both petrol only and petrol-CNG powertrain options.

The move comes five months before the proposed norms by the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) that mandates new vehicles to be sold after October 1 this year to come equipped with six airbags as a standard fitment.

With this move, both the Maruti Suzuki Alto and S-Presso are now available with dual front airbags as standard fitment. Maruti Suzuki has not revealed any reason behind the discontinuation of the abovementioned trim options. However, it could be because of the safety norms mandated by the central government that requires all the cars in India to be fitted with dual front airbags as standard.

Besides Alto and S-Presso, Maruti Suzuki used to sell Celerio and WagonR with a single airbag as standard. However, with the generation upgrade, both the hatchbacks have received updates on the safety front and now come with dual front airbags as standard. Apart from that, all other Maruti Suzuki models have been offered with dual airbags as standard fitment.