Is an era about to end? Is the car that started it all, ready to bid adieu to the Indian roads? DNA reports that Maruti Suzuki is ending the production of 800 this month. Although the 800 sells a decent 2,000 odd units every month, Maruti Suzuki is looking to make a move on.
The Maruti 800 was launched in 1983 as a cheaper alternative for the Ambassadors and Padminis. Back then cars were expensive and the 800 was the first affordable car for the Indian masses. It was the dream of Sanjay Gandhi that every Indian should be able to afford a car for his family.
When the Alto started to outsell the Maruti 800, it was pretty obvious that Maruti Suzuki has moved on from the 800 era and Alto is the new entry level car from the automaker’s stable.
The company didn’t even bother to update the engine to BS4 norms so it was out of the metros for sure. Sales started to decline and Alto became the new hot favorite for first time car owners. Most of us were convinced that the 800 is long gone. But Maruti Suzuki was thinking otherwise.
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By Kaustubh Shinde
The most iconic workhorse of India has found a new stable in China! The Chinese Auto manufacturer Jiangnan Auto, who ceased producing this car a while ago, sold the rights and manufacturing equipment to Zotye (which, if you don’t know, manufactures the RiO SUV, sold by Premier in India)
Zotye now sells the Maruti 800 for as low as 18,000rmb in the Chinese market. That is just over 1 lakh of rupees.
Before Jiangnan Auto, the Suzuki Alto (a.k.a our Maruti 800) has been manufactured in China by so many companies. Many of them don’t even have a legal contract with Suzuki.
But Zotye feels that there is still market at the bottom of the pyramid and the rural parts of China will highly appreciate the product. If things go as planned, it will be the cheapest car available in China. Zotye is also planning on making a sedan out of the Alto’s platform.
Will Premier be able to sell the Maruti 800 in India after its phased out, by shipping them as CKDs from Zotye in China?
And check out its dashboard!
Wishes of common man answered!
My Envisage
The dream that was vision in 2003 from the glass of the back bench of the ultra luxury car, seeing a family of 4 souring in the rain on the scooter has been realised on 18th July 2009 when Chairman of Tata Motors, Ratan Tata hands over the key of the first “Nano car” or “People’s Car” or “The world’s cheapest car” to Ashok Raghunath Vichare in Mumbai.
That indeed is one of the greatest achievements in Indian automobile Industry and auto Industry across the globe. This engineering marvel depicts a part of a “new breed of 21st-century cars” that embodies “a contrarian philosophy of smaller, lighter, and cheaper” and potentially portrays a new era in inexpensive personal transportation.
“Don’t we owe a salute to Mr. Ratan Tata getting the wishes of common man answered”
Behind the Steering
This weekend while driving my Chevy Optra Magnum Diesel 2.0 LT I was wondering, what is the reason behind this car not having the sale number it deserves?
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Maruti Suzuki has scrapped its plans of phasing out the Omni. The company is now working to upgrade the existing engine to make it BSIV compatible, as the mini van is still doing brisk sales (avg 7000 units/mth). The Maruti 800 however, will be phased out from 11 cities as planned.
Maruti Suzuki will be discontinuing the sales of Maruti 800 and Omni mini-van, in 11 major cities from 2010, due to stricter emission norms – Bharat Stage IV that will take effect next year.
Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Surat and Agra will be the first few cities where BS IV will be implemented in 2010. Other cities which will initially come under BSIII norms, are likely to follow suit.
Entry posted on February 6, 2009 by
Dave;
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Suzuki
Maruti Suzuki India today revealed its plans to replace three of its cars — the WagonR, Omni and Versa. A person dealing with the projects said the new WagonR will be based on the Suzuki’s MR Wagon platform(like the existing model), but the exterior and interior will be throughly made-over. The new Omni will be built on Versa platform to replace both Omni and Versa.
India’s largest carmaker – Maruti Suzuki has yet again hiked the prices (since its last hike in October’08) of its cars by Rs 5,000-10,000 with effect from January 28, attributing it to higher input prices and foreign currency movement, which affects prices of imported components.
While prices of all variants of SX4 sedan has been hiked by Rs 9,000, the price of Swift Petrol LXi has now been revised upwards by Rs 5,000.
Is an era about to end? Is the car that started it all, ready to bid adieu to the Indian roads? DNA reports that Maruti Suzuki is ending the production of 800 this month. Although the 800 sells a decent 2,000 odd units every month, Maruti Suzuki is looking to make a move on.
