Achieving and retaining a 50%+ market share in any automotive market is certainly unprecedented, and around the world it is just Maruti Suzuki which has been able to do so! Many credit Maruti’s success to its value for money products but one shall also not miss out on how innovatively it serves all its target customers, including the sizeable chunk of taxi operators in India.
Book a cab via any of the prominent ride hailing mobile app in a metro city, there is a good possibility that you will be greeted by a Maruti WagonR or a Swift Dzire. However, if one moves to Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities, it is common to find smaller cars like the Alto and Datsun Go serving as Taxis.
Maruti realizes that this segment of small Taxis is relatively underpenetrated and the Alto is the right product for the market. To make the most of the opportunity, Maruti seems to have launched a dedicated ‘Tour’ variant of the Alto. Though, there hasn’t been any official announcement, leaked brochure confirms the launch of this new taxi.
At the moment it is unclear whether the Tour H1 will be available on both Alto 800 or the Alto K10. However, leaked brochure reveals the features that will be on offer with this taxi variant. It also gets manual AC and power steering. Airbag is not standard. If you want airbag, only driver side airbag is offered as option.
The entry level Maruti Alto 800 STD variant is priced at Rs 2.51 lakhs (ex-showroom Delhi) and the Alto K10 LX variant starts retailing at Rs 3.3 lakhs (ex-showroom Delhi). The tour variant of the Alto shall carry a price in the same range, however the company may charge an additional Rs 60-70K for a CNG kit.
Currently, Maruti offers 4 cars with the ‘Tour’ badging, namely the Swift, Eeco, Celerio and the Alto. With the next generation Ertiga about to make its Indian debut soon, the current version is also expected to be rebadged as the tour variant.
