The Maruti Suzuki Alto has been the kingpin among small cars since ages now. It is quite astonishing to see that its sales figures have hardly dropped below 25K/month in the past six months. It is such a popular car in India that it became the best selling hatch in the world.
Let’s go a little bit off topic now. When the Tata Motors began selling the Nano in 2009, there was a huge hue and cry about the pressure that the infrastructure will come under when the Nano starts flooding the streets.
However, as we can now see that those arguments were just a bit too far fetched. The Nano averagely manages 5-10K units/month which is far from what we expected. Is it because the Alto is slowly and steadily throttling the Nano’s Market?
Amazingly, something very important has slipped out of the radar. It is the pace at which MSIL is selling Altos. Let’s see what the calculations lead to
The Sales figures of the Alto in the past 6 months are as follows:
• August 2010: 28,430
• September 2010: 30,147
• October 2010: 32,612
• November 2010: 32,377
• December 2010: 26,937
• January 2011: 33,118
So averagely, the company has managed 30604 units per month in the past 6 months. This means the company sold 987 units each day for the last six months. So every hour the company sold 41 units which means (conservatively speaking) the company sold 1 Alto every 2 minutes. That is simply a mind-blowing figure! Who is buying so many Altos 
Forget the fire controversy and delivery delays; Is this the most critical factor that is hindering Ratan Tata’s ambition? Is the market reluctant to accept the new boy (Nano) and preferring the time tested Alto?
By the time you have finished reading this article someone, somewhere has bought an Alto in India
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unbelievable, no wonder why maruti suzuki is making so much profits..:-)
Tejas get your calculator repaired.
or read carefully
Tata Motors has completely misled customers into believing that The Tata Nano will deliver 23.6 Kms per litre of petrol as certified by ARAI.
Going by these advertisements of 23.6 Kms per litre, any customer who has purchased a Tata Nano would expect a reasonable mileage of 16 to 18 Kms per litre in city traffic i.e. 6 to 7 Kms below the advertised mileage.
But it is proven fact that there are several Tata Nano cars on the Indian roads today which are returning an absymally low mileage of around 10 Kms per lite in ciry traffic with the AC on which has left customers who purchased the Nanao dumbfounded. Will any Indian customer accept a 624 cc car returning a mile of around 10 Kms per litre or even lesser in city traffic.
Tata Motors have atrategically taken a stand to maintain complete silence on this very crucial issue which does not augur well for them.
This is pretty good car for the first time buyers and spares are very cheap. No nonsense car. Parking and driving this is very easy in the city like Bangalore. No wonder why Maruti can sell 30 k units on an avg every month. That too now it is fitted with 1000cc engine for the car enthusiastic. Personally I feel something is missing in Nano, probably small engine, mismatch between the tall body and tiny tyres.
@Thejas: 30604 is a monthly figure. The average is taken to normalize spikes and slumps
Tata Nano Diesel can change all the equations.. provided that Tata manages to launch it in time,,, i.e. before Maruti comes up with a diesel Alto..
If tata is late then the Nano is dead.
Thats pretty cool.
The calculation seems to be wrong.
If the company has managed 30604 units per month in the past 6 months, it means the company has sold 170 units (Not 987 units) each day for the last six months. So every hour, the company has sold 7 units (not 41 units). So every 8 minutes, an Alto is bought !!