The Maruti Alto is one of the most important products for the manufacturer in India. With a cumulative sale of over 40 lakh units, it’s not surprising to see this model top the sales charts every month. The car is trusted by millions of middle-class Indian families with many choosing it as their first car. The car tasted success due to its affordability and ease of maintenance which a lot of first-time car buyers look for.
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You’d find an Alto in every corner of the country, from the urban cities like Mumbai to the deserts in Rajasthan and even the mountains of Himachal Pradesh where they’d be happily chugging along.
Launch timeline pushed
The current generation Maruti Alto has been in the Indian market since 2012 making it quite long in the tooth compared to the competition. To stay relevant in the market and maintain its position, it is no surprise then that Maruti is working on the next generation Alto which was supposedly going to be revealed this year. Like all the recent car launch delays, we can deduce that the delay is due to the current global pandemic. We can expect the car to be unveiled at the 2022 Indian auto expo and a market launch in mid-2022.
What can we expect?
Expect the next-generation Alto to have the formula like its predecessors which is affordability and ease of maintenance. The next generation Alto is expected to be based on Maruti’s heartect platform which underpins its numerous siblings such as the WagonR and Swift. In terms of safety, we can expect dual airbags with ABS and parking sensors with front seatbelt reminders standard across the range. The car is likely to come with Maruti’s smartplay infotainment system which would be compatible with android auto and apple carplay.
Though we haven’t gotten a word on the powertrain options, Maruti is likely to continue with the current 800cc 3-cylinder petrol engine mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox which would be tuned to extract best in class mileage in typical Maruti fashion. The option of CNG is likely to continue in the next generation and a 5 speed AMT could be on the cards too.
Source: TeamBHP