Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL),the country's favourite automobile company, is elated with the gratifying treatment received by its brand new entry-level Alto 800 small car. The current hot favourite among Indian car enthusiasts, Alto 800 had already been booked more than 10,000 times before its launch in the domestic market. Further, Maruti Suzuki witnessed an astonishing booking of over 17,000 units of the Alto 800 within just four days of its launch on October 16, 2012.
In an extremely remarkable exercise, a Mallappuram (small district in Kerala) based Maruti Suzuki dealer wrapped off deliveries of 200 units of Alto 800 cars in one day. K. Rajendran, General Manager (GM) of Maruti Suzuki Kottakkunnu, Malappuram situated dealership, managed to pull off the astonishing feat.
Expressing his views on his much publicised accomplishment, Rajendran, said, “We had 200 bookings in the span of ten days, even before the customers had seen any images or had any information on the price of the car. With the festivities catching up in the North, the company’s despatches to our dealership might come down. I am assuming I will carry over 150 bookings of this month to the next month. But this would only be temporary.”
Interestingly, a number of similar stories regarding the Alto 800 bookings are coming from all over little known Indian towns and cities. For instance, a small Maruti Suzuki dealership in Himachal Pradesh called Hamirpur witnessed bookings of about 40 units of Alto 800, within just two days of its launch. Related stories keep coming up from many small Indian cities, such as Nashik in Maharashtra and Himat Nagar, Gujarat.
According to MSIL, the dedicated target markets for freshly launched Alto 800 are New Delhi and NCR, Jaipur, Guwahati, Bangalore, Mumbai and Kerala, amongst others. A company spokesperson iterated the success story of its new product and said, “As on October 18, total booking for the Alto 800 reached 13,000. Surprisingly, the uptake is good even in metros like Mumbai and Bangalore.”
There are several reasons behind the immense popularity of Alto 800 among car enthusiasts residing in the Tier-I and Tier-II Indian cities. First and foremost is it being under the Maruti Suzuki brand, then comes the spectacular value-for-money quotient of the car, which is available in a price range between Rs. 2.5 lacs and Rs. 3.6 lacs in the country. Further, the attractive fuel efficiency ratings of 22.7 km per litre on petrol and 30 km per litre on CNG, gives the Alto 800 its USP against its direct rivals in the domestic market. Currently, the 'hottest small city car' title goes to Alto 800 and the latest MSIL product is giving nightmares to its market competition comprising, Hyundai Eon, Chevrolet Spark and the top model of Tata Nano.
