Indian Autos blog

Moving on from Maruti Suzuki’s bestselling car in the world to a sales dud that is not doing so well. The A-Star (Alto-star) replaced the Alto everywhere in the world except India.

The A-Star, since its launch, has always been under the shadow of sibling Alto and rival i10. Maruti Suzuki has exported many times the volume it has sold in the Indian market. Since Maruti has two vehicles at similar price points (A-Star and Wagon R), the A-Star always played second filled to its tall boy partner.

We all must have dreamt of zooming down the street in a convertible car at some point either during college or when we earned our first pay cheque. Sure, there may be a lot of pollution and unfavorable weather conditions in India, but that doesn’t deter us from dreaming. The only affordable convertible in India is the San Storm which is neither aspirational nor well built.

Maruti gave a teaser of such a kind of vehicle with the A-Star cabriolet concept. It is a yellow-colored, soft top version of the A-Star hatchback. It can theoretically seat four people on its leather wrapped bucket seats.

At the rear, there are dual exhaust pipes with a tiny rear spoiler. Sporty alloy wheels compliment the overall look.

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Left – Chinese car maker Zotye’ upcoming A002 mini car expected with 1.0 and 1.3-liter petrol engines at a starting price of around 4 lakh rupees.

Right – Suzuki’s Alto (A-Star in India), powered by a K-Series 1.0-liter engine and offered in both manual and automatic transmission guises.

Suzuki UK has launched a ‘Special Edition’ Alto (the Maruti Suzuki A-Star in India) for the British market. Only 500 numbers of this ‘super-exclusive’ Alto edition would be made and that’s not surprising at all. The car is christened the Alto SZ-L.

Drastic changes to the car’s exteriors include new wheel caps, black fog lamp surrounds and the SZ-L badge on the tail gate and side-strips. On the inside the car gets SZ-L mats, silver surround on the AC vents and body colored finish around the AC control switches and door handles. The car comes only in two colors Superior White and Bright Red.

Could this special edition Maruti Suzuki A-Star come to India? No. Not now. Maybe later.

Maruti Suzuki is currently concentrating only on launching special editions of the Zen Estilo. After it realises that the Zen Estilo wouln’t really take off and only a replacement could do good, Maruti Suzuki would find time to understand the A-Star needs a facelift and then would toil hard to launch a ‘never seen or heard before’ special edition of the A-Star.

With competition heating up and arch rival Hyundai readying the facelifted i10, we guess Maruti could have plans for a ‘facelifted’ A-Star for India. Possibly with the automatic transmission we were speculating about.

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The Maruti Suzuki A-Star had a very good start in the Indian market. The car’s styling evoked a good response from the public and it has been selling well since then. But with a slew of new entrants splashing into the small car segment, segment favorites like the A-Star, Swift and Hyundai i10 all lost their charm and sales aren’t very brisk.

Hyundai has already set to work and is busy preparing the facelifted Hyundai i10. Maruti has to add some pizazz to its range. The next generation 2011 Maruti Suzuki Swift would be coming only next year and only other cars that deserves attention are the Zen Estilo and the A-Star.

The Zen Estilo is receiving few cosmetic changes now and then but it isn’t enough, is it? The only option Maruti Suzuki India has is to add spice to the A-Star so that it can attract buyers who are turned off by the Estilo.

Rumours suggest that Maruti could offer an automatic transmission on the A-Star to attract new customers, especially the fairer sex. The A-Star which sells as the Alto globally has a very efficient 4-speed auto transmission that manages 15 kmpl in the city and 24 kmpl on the highway.

The efficiency of the Maruti Suzuki A-Star Automatic could attract buyers who want hassle free driving in the city and could be a cheaper alternative to the Hyundai i10 Automatic.

The Indian market is growing rapidly and with this growth, there is bright chance for small cars with auto boxes to do well. The Nissan Micra could be offered with an automatic transmission by next year and the next generation Maruti Swift could come with an automatic transmission option.

Suzuki A-Star – fuel system forces recall

Joining the recall wagon is our own Maruti Suzuki and the problem is with the A-Star manufactured in India. IAB earlier carried a post in December 09 of the same problem in Netherlands (Suzuki A-Star facing lethal fuel systems).

The company has recalled about 100,000 cars manufactured between November 2008 and August 2009. It has identified a fault in the fuel pump gasket and O lining. These faults potentially cause a fuel leakage in case the fuel tank is filled to the brim beyond the auto cut off position. Yes, the sure shot way to avoid this problem is to never fill up your fuel tank to the brim, but now with the recall issued, we suggest you get the fault corrected should you get a notice from Maruti Suzuki.

The company has already sent out letters to customers who might face this problem and about 50,000 cars have been corrected since November 2009. This includes cars from India and overseas markets. That’s being very proactive and customer oriented. Kudos to Maruti Suzuki and team.

According to the tests conducted by Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Tata Nano petrol which returned a mileage of 23.6 km/litre, is the most Fuel efficient petrol engined Four-wheeler available in the Indian market. It also boasts ultra-low carbon emissions of 101 g/km.

Maruti Suzuki has finally launched its much awaited car, the A-Star with an introductory price of 3,46,775 for its base LXi version announced that they are aiming to sell 50,000 units of the A-star in Indian market.

The all new A-Star (known as Pixo in European markets) will be made in over 200 variants and exported to around 150 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, Australia and Africa. The A-Star would contribute half of Maruti Suzuki’s overall export target of 200,000 units by 2010-11.The company also plans to commence exports of A-Star in early 2009 to Europe.

The car would be manufactured in Manesar production facility where the capacity has been upgraded to manufacture three lakh cars a year.