With new Alto K10, Maruti Suzuki targets kids in larger cities as properly

India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki, which is in the course of constructing its sport-utility automobile portfolio, is constant its deal with its “bread and butter” section of small vehicles. Thursday, the corporate launched the brand new Alto K10 automobile, a mannequin it had discontinued a number of years in the past. Speaking with Pranav Mukul forward of the automobile’s launch, the corporate’s Senior Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, Shashank Srivastava, stated that with the brand new, larger Alto, the corporate expects to focus on younger consumers in larger cities, in variance from Alto’s typical small-town buyer. Edited excerpts:

At a time when the corporate is focussing on the SUV section, what’s the thought course of behind introducing one other small automobile to Maruti’s portfolio?

The Alto K10 is an important launch for us not simply from an business standpoint but additionally from a Maruti Suzuki standpoint. This Alto has the larger K10 engine, and the scale is far larger. It is a fully new product, the facility is 19ps extra, with greater torque, and an even bigger wheel dimension. It is an even bigger automobile and its gasoline effectivity can be near 24.5 kmpl. It will probably be a key launch for this section, which may be very giant by the best way. The whole hatchback section is roughly 38 per cent of the market — 11.52 lakh items had been bought final yr. Out of this, Maruti bought 7.88 lakh, so a market share of about 68 per cent. It is an important section for us. Also, Alto as a model itself is doing properly. It turned no 1 in 2004, and for 16 years it was no 1 until 2019-20. Only the final two years it has come all the way down to the fourth place, after Wagon R, Baleno and Swift, however that can be as a result of Alto K10 was discontinued. We hope that now Alto will lead the market as soon as once more. Around 65 per cent of Alto’s gross sales come from smaller cities and cities however with Alto K10, we’re concentrating on a younger buyer base within the 25-30 years age bracket in larger cities as properly.

You are focussing on Alto K10 being an even bigger automobile, what’s the purpose behind that messaging?

Suddenly, area has develop into a requirement for a sure class of shoppers. For individuals who don’t need that a lot area, Alto 800 is there. This is an effective differentiation by way of area and energy. We imagine the shopper for the Alto K10 will probably be barely totally different than that of Alto 800. When we discontinued the Alto Okay-10, we had launched the S-Presso. If you add Alto 800 and S-Presso numbers, it turns into no 1 even final yr. We do count on Alto to be no 1 once more.

So will the Alto 800 section be discontinued?

We must see how the market takes the Alto K10 however as of now, each Alto 800 and K10 will proceed.

Maruti has a big order backlog. Is there a capability constraint?

Today, it isn’t the meeting capability that’s the constraint as a lot as semiconductor provide. We have seen a big enchancment in semiconductor provide however model-wise we now have to see the supply. The ready durations are fairly totally different throughout fashions. There are giant ready durations for CNG fashions, XL6, Brezza, and so on. Whereas the S-Presso and Celerio can be found with a lot much less ready interval.