Maruti launches improved Alto K10 with automatic gear shift technology at Rs3.8 lakh

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) on Monday launched the country's cheapest small car with automated gear shift technology, Alto K10 (AGS), priced at Rs3.80 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

The new Alto K10 comes in six variants, including four manual transmission variants. The manual petrol variants of the new Alto K10 are priced between Rs3.06 lakh and Rs3.56 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), while the newly introduced CNG version is tagged at Rs3.82 lakh (all prices ex-showroom).

The company has tweaked the 1-litre K-series petrol engine to improve the fuel efficiency of the new Alto K10 by about 15 per cent. 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.

Maruti expects the improved Alto K10 with better fuel efficiency and an automatic transmission version to help notch up better sales in the coming months.

Maruti Suzuki has seen its market size in the entry-level car segment decline in recent months as buyers postpone purchases.

Overall, the new Alto K10 will have six different variants and the AGS option will be available only with the top-end model priced at Rs3.80 lakh. The previous version of the Alto K10 was priced between Rs3.15 lakh and Rs3.31 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The new Alto K10 has been developed at a cost of Rs200 crore on the existing platform of the model by engineers at Maruti Suzuki along with counterparts at parent Suzuki Motor Corp (SMC) in Japan.

"Alto K10 is the third Maruti Suzuki car within few weeks where our suppliers and engineers have improved the fuel efficiency substantially," Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director and chief executive officer of MSIL, said.

Maruti Suzuki is positioning the new car as a mass market product equipped with "futuristic technology" to cater to "very demanding, value for money conscious customers".

"We have sold over 400,000 units of Alto K10 in the last four years. We expect 20 per cent of the sales of the Alto K10 to come from the AGS equipped version," added Ayukawa.

After the Celerio, the Alto K10 is the second model to be equipped with auto gear shift (AGS) feature. Going forward, the company expects AGS equipped variants would account for almost 30-40 per cent of the company's overall small car sales.

MSIL's sales in the mini segment, comprising Alto and WagonR, declined 2.6 per cent in the April-October period of this financial year to 237,474 units compared to 243,714 units sold in the year-ago period.

Last month, MSIL sold 35,753 entry-level cars, which is a drop of 9.2 per cent over the 39,379 units sold in the same month last year. Ayukawa said the new Alto K10 would help the company realise 10 per cent incremental sales of the model.