Business Line has reported that Maruti would be coming up with an all new Maruti 800 by December 2012. Maruti 800 has been possibly the most first-owned-car in the country. It hails its existence since 1980s with the original Japanese model often referred to as ‘Dinky’ to the current gen product.
The car was stopped in the top 13 cities of India which mandated Bharat Stage 4 norms from 2010. This limited the car from best selling figures to somewhere around 2000 figures as of now. Alto took over as the new top seller and since then there has been no looking back.
- The new 800 would be a ‘totally new model’ and would sport the same F8D engine from the 800cc Alto.
- Alto twins would remain unchanged
- Expected to be priced in the 2.5-3.5 lakh band
- Designing would be changed – it would be sharper
With the Alto already selling in huge numbers, existing competitors as advanced as Hyundai Eon and touted TATA Nano’s bigger engine variant, would Maruti 800 regain its lost glory and more importantly market share.
Would the car eat into Alto’s market since the pricing is expected to be in the similar region. Would Maruti be able to make as good a design as Hyundai’s Eon? Would the car come up with new fuel efficiency benchmarks?
A lot remains to be seen…
By,
Saad Khan
Editor MotorBash
Source: Business Line
They should give it a proper name…not Maruti 800 please…