By S.M. Boothem

While India celebrated its 75th year of Independence, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) successfully completed 40 years. One of its iconic brands, the Alto, was introduced in 2000 and is the bestselling car in the hatchback segment for MSIL. The Alto brand played a major role in MSIL’s success in the Indian car market. The Alto brand has ruled the roads for more than two decades and is a household name across all the regions of India.

To take the legacy of the brand forward, MSIL recently introduced the all-new Alto K10 at a starting price of Rs3.99 lakh. The company has promoted the brand under the tagline – IndiaKiChalPadi – which means the new Alto K10 brand is all set to flourish once again in style, after having put millions of customers behind the wheel in its unparalleled 22-year journey. 

“Over the years, Alto has strengthened its appeal with every new upgrade and is a testament to an iconic brand that evolved with the changing aspirations of young India. It has a fresh new design, advanced tech and safety features, coupled with spacious interiors, and a Next-Gen K-series 1.0-litre engine. We are confident that the new Alto K10 will re-energise the segment and exceed customer expectations with its contemporary and youthful appeal,” said Hisashi Takeuchi, MD & CEO, MSIL introducing the new car.

For MSIL, it has been an action-packed year so far – India’s largest carmaker introduced eight cars in the last seven months of 2022. “We started in 1982 and the first vehicle was the Maruti 800. In 2000, we introduced the Alto. The Alto became the number one car in 2004 and continuously dominated as a leader for 16 years till 2020. Now, we got this iconic brand back.

Cumulatively, the Alto has sold about 43.3 lakh vehicles, out of which the Alto K10 was 9 lakhs. The top four cars in the country today are hatchbacks and one of them is the Alto,” says Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Director, Sales and Marketing, MSIL. 

MSIL strongly believe that a well-known brand like the new Alto K10 will have a bigger geographical presence by generating more volumes. Its target customers are first-time buyers. India has a very young population and 65 per cent of them are under 35. A lot of people are first-time buyers with transportation requirements. ‘Chal Padi’ is the new slogan for brand building. It means taking off; a new direction in life. In its earlier editions, 43 lakh iconic Alto cars were sold across the country.  

India’s growth story

Talking about 40 years of Maruti Suzuki's journey in India, Srivastava explains: “The company started a revolution of motorisation in the country. Not many people could afford cars at the time, but Maruti Suzuki was able to offer them the 800 and the rest is history. When Maruti Suzuki came, the total sales of cars in the country were 50,000 per year. And this year, we expected the number to be 36 lakhs, and India is the fourth largest car maker in the world.

Apart from this, Maruti Suzuki supports the ancillary industry, component manufacturers, transportation providers, service facilities and suppliers of batteries, and tyre-makers in their journey of growth. Today, India is an attractive market for all vehicle manufacturers – both local and global players. We are happy to be part of India’s economic progress.”