How competitors plan to beat Maruti Alto

Sensing stiff competition from Maruti Suzuki with the all-new Alto 800 with an aggressive price tag, Hyundai and Tata Motors announced deep price cuts and launch of new special edition variants, respectively to beat the market leader.

Maruti Suzuki on Monday launched the Alto 800 at Rs 2.44 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), undercutting the Eon from Hyundai by as much as Rs 30,000, but still more than Rs 100,000 expensive compared to the Tata Nano.

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Hyundai, the country's second largest car maker is offering the Eon at par with the Alto 800 priced at Rs 2.44 lakh, inclusive of discounts and bonuses.

Nearly 12 per cent of the value of the Eon is offered at a discount by Hyundai at present.

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Tata Motors has launched a 'special edition' Nano which features alloy wheels, body graphics, music system and glove box.

These features are not seen on the regular Nano. "Drive home your special edition Nano today and save up to Rs 40,000", states an advertisement. 

Tata Motors also offers the industry beating down payment scheme of Rs 15,000 of the Nano and a four year or 60,000 kms warranty on the small car too. 

Though the Alto 800 and the Eon come strapped with an almost equal sized engine (800cc), the Nano is powered by a smaller 624cc engine, with comparatively less power than both the other hatchbacks.

Maruti is offering the new Alto 800 with a CNG option while Hyundai launched the LPG version of the Eon earlier this year. Tata Motors is yet to launch the CNG-powered Nano, which was show-cased at the Auto Expo earlier this year.

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Maruti is phasing out the older generation Alto 800 which was priced at Rs 2.45 lakh, even as plans are afoot at continuing with the M800 in the existing markets, which excludes the 13 cities where Bharat Stage IV emission norms are in place.

With an ARAI figure of 22.74kpl for the petrol version, Maruti claims the new Alto 800 will be 15 percent more fuel-efficient than the outgoing model.

The car is available in two fuel options, petrol and CNG. Work on a small diesel engine is going on and could be seen in the future on the Alto 800.