Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 was on sale in India, but discontinued during the BS6 transition
Maruti Suzuki is the default choice for small hatchbacks currently. As it is among the few OEMs that still make small hatchbacks. In fact, apart from Maruti, there is only Renault who is left in the entry level car segment, thanks to Kwid.
Hyundai Santro was discontinued recently and Eon has been discontinued ages ago. Go, Go+, and Redi Go are no more because Nissan pulled the plug on the Datsun brand. If marketed right, Maruti Suzuki’s upcoming Alto has the potential of ruling this market. To join Alto, the company is also launching Alto K10 which was homologated recently.
Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 Variants
According to the NCT registration papers, we can see that Alto K10 is larger than the Alto that is currently on sale in India. The new Alto K10 measures 3,530 mm in length, 1,490 mm in width, 1,520 mm in height (unladen) and has a 2,380 mm long wheelbase. It also has a gross vehicle weight of 1,150 kg.
Coming to engine specs, it gets a 998 cc naturally aspirated K10C petrol engine making 66 bhp of power at 5,500 RPM and 89 Nm of torque at 3,500 RPM. This engine also does duties on other Maruti Suzuki small cars like Celerio, 2022 S-Presso and WagonR. The new Alto K10 will get a 5-speed AMT gearbox option that was discontinued with the old K10 before BS6 transition. Alto 800 post BS6 transition, never got an AMT.
Coming to the variants, Maruti Suzuki is offering four different trims. They are STD, LXi, VXi and VXi+. All the trims also get (O) variants where Maruti Suzuki offers seat-belt pre-tensioners and passenger side airbags. In non-optional variants, these safety features are given a miss. AGS (AMT) options are only offered on VXi, VXi (O), VXi+ and VXI+ (O) variants. Total 11 variants are on offer with the Maruti Alto K10 new gen.
Launch & Competition
New gen Alto K10 has already been spied while shooting for TVC. Some of the features it will get are – a 7” touchscreen infotainment with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay like the recently launched Celerio, front power windows, remote key and manual AC.
On the exterior, we can expect a larger squared-off grille and ‘C’ shaped indents for fog lamp housing, pull-up style door handles like outgoing model, 12” or 13” alloy wheels on top-spec variant, and more. All-in-all, Alto is getting bigger than the outgoing model and also taking an SUV-ish approach.
In FY 2022, Maruti Suzuki sold 2,11,762 Alto and S-Presso combined. Renault Kwid sold 26,535 units only. The entry-level hatchback market in India, is around 2.5 lakh units a year, which is not a bad number. With the new Alto, Maruti can hope to increase their dominance in this segment. Prices will be officially revealed on 18th Aug 2022, which is when the launch event is.
