5 reasons why the Maruti Suzuki Alto has been India’s best selling cars across 3 decades

First introduced in 2000, the Maruti Alto was launched with a singular goal: To democratize travel for the masses. Over the next couple of decades, the Alto not only managed to seamlessly become Maruti Suzuki’s best-selling car but also went from strength to strength, becoming India’s best-selling car for years.

What makes the Maruti Alto tick, so much so that it has innumerable happy customers who rely on this compact hatchback for their everyday transportation needs? Here is not one, not two but five reasons why the Maruti Alto is such a dominant force in the entry-level car segment of India.

Affordable yet uncompromising

Prices of the Alto start from Rs. 3.25 lakh, making it one of the most affordable cars in India. This also explains why the Maruti Alto is a highly preferred car among first time car buyers, most of whom value affordability greatly. But this isn’t to say that first time car buyers don’t dig a great feature-set: The Alto has democratized big car features, giving lakhs of Indians access to cutting edge technology in their cars.

For instance, there’s the SmartPlay touchscreen infotainment console with a flurry of connectivity and entertainment features including GPS navigation and Bluetooth audio streaming.

Safety and security features including airbags, ABS, vehicle tracking and vehicle security alerts, etc. mean that the Alto is not just feature-rich but also safe and secure.

From power steering to power windows, and keyless entry to internally adjustable ORVMs, the Maruti Alto has everything that you need for a comfortable driving experience – a truly no-compromise car.

It’s a Maruti Suzuki

The Alto exemplifies everything that the iconic Maruti Suzuki brand stands for. Reliability and most important of all, low maintenance cost across the entire life cycle of a car. These factors come together beautifully in the Alto, making it a much-loved car of the masses.

Reliability has always been Maruti Suzuki’s forte right from the company’s inception, and this winning trait runs across its best-selling car – the Alto, as well. The Maruti Alto has scored high in JD Power quality surveys in its category.

A testament as to how reliable the Maruti Alto is can be had from the fact Alto has performed in special endurance runs, sometimes continuously for 24 hours continuously. The Altos have run like clockwork, never skipping a beat.

Low cost of maintenance, across the Maruti Alto’s life cycle, is another highlight of this large-hearted car. Unbeatable, really!

Designed and built in India, for India

India is a very diverse country, not just in terms of the culture but also in terms of the terrains that one has to traverse. A car that’s designed and built in India, for India, naturally has an edge. The Maruti Alto is just that.

For instance, the Alto is a very popular car in the Himalayan states of Kashmir, Himachal and the North East, places with some of the harshest road conditions in India. The reason why Alto owners swear by this car in such unforgiving conditions has to do with the car’s impeccable reliability even in sub-zero conditions, a tall ground clearance, great low end torque that ensures minimal gear changes and excellent grade-abilty and a compact footprint that lets it squeeze through narrowest of paths. These very attributes make the Maruti Alto super popular even in the plains, where conditions are a lot more easier on the car.

Edgy looks on the outside, elegance on the inside

The Maruti Alto is a blend of elegance and sharp design, making it a preferred choice among both first-time car buyers as well as seasoned car owners. For starters, it’s aero edge design is suave and sophisticated, and this is something that appeals to everyone.

The car has excellent visibility from the driver’s seat, and this makes it a breeze to drive.The cabin, with its cheerfully designed interiors and color themes, is airy and a comfortable place to be in, even across road trips spanning 100s of kilometers.

All these factors come together to make the Alto a preferred car across generations of Indian car buyers.

Kitna Deti Hai?

In the era of sky-high fuel prices, great mileage is not a good-to-have feature but in fact is a must-have feature. The Alto 800, in its petrol and CNG trims, is an extremely fuel efficient car, and this is a big reason why the car finds acceptance in every nook and corner of India, where incomes are much lower than that of the bigger cities. The petrol version of the Maruti Alto 800 returns an ARAI certified mileage figure of 22.05 Kmpl while the CNG powered variant returns 31.59 Kms/Kg.