After the Maruti Suzuki Alto topped the global sales charts for two consecutive years, the Volkswagen Gol has overtaken the Japanese small car in 2012 global sales. This means that the Gol becomes the world’s largest selling small car, with Alto now being at the second spot. While 286,833 units of Maruti Alto were sold in 2012, the VW Gol overtook the Alto by clocking 293,293 sales. The third largest selling car is the Fiat Uno, which registered 255,838 sales last year.
It is being said that the Alto might have slipped to second spot due to the arrival of new model and customers having to delay their purchase till the new Alto was launched. Another reason could be the rising petrol prices in India.
This might change with the launch of a diesel powered Alto. Rumours are afloat that the diesel variant might be launched as soon as in early 2014. It may be noted that Suzuki, Japan is busy with the development of a three cylinder, 800cc diesel engine that will find application in many small cars. While Maruti Suzuki does offer a CNG variant of the Alto 800, sales of CNG powered cars in Indian market aren’t anything to write home about. Much of this has to do with CNG outlets being limited to bigger cities and also CNG being less appealing than Petrol/Diesel.