Maruti launches two Alto variants

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 28. In a bid to cut into the market of small cars launched by the two Korean chaebols, Maruti Udyog Ltd. today launched a new small car Alto in two versions with price tags of Rs. 2.99 lakhs and Rs. 3.65 lakhs (ex-factory, Delhi).

Mr. Jagdish Khattar, Managing Director of MUL, told newsmen that the car would be available off-the-shelf as the company had already dispatched 1,500 cars and was sending 100 vehicles a day to its dealers all over the country. The 796 cc version Alto LX and 1061 cc Alto VX were fitted with 12 valve Euro-II engines and the cars would deliver 45 bhp and 62 bhp, respectively, he added.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, the Union Heavy Industry Minister, Mr. Manohar Joshi, said the Government was happy at the manner in which Maruti had tackled competition. On one hand it had undertaken cost-cutting measures to keep its car prices down, on the other, the company was responsive to market conditions and was the only company to consistently launch new products. He assured all help from the Government by observing that his ``Ministry will ensure that Maruti remains the undisputed market leader.''

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Mr. Khattar said the company had targeted to sell 16,000 to 18,000 units of Alto in the remaining months of the current fiscal. The new model would have a localisation level of over 70 per cent that would be increased gradually, he said.

Asked whether the company was planning to launch more variants of Alto, he said it would be decided later based on the market demand. Alto was the fourth new offering by MUL in the last ten months, he added.

The MUL finance director, Mr. A. R. Halasyam, said the company would post a lower net profit during the current fiscal compared to Rs. 330 crores in the previous fiscal.

He said the company's financial condition was under pressure but said it was not in 'red' in the first half of the current fiscal. He declined to comment on the performance during the remaining months of the current fiscal.

He said the company wanted to cross last year's sales of 4.07 lakh units during the current year but it would depend on the market conditions.

Mr. Halasyam said the company had invested Rs. 600 crores to launch this model in India.

To hike prices of some models from Oct. 1

Maruti will raise prices of some car models including Maruti-800 and Omni van from October 1 as the price cut announced three months ago was coming to an end.

``The prices of some of the Maruti models will go up from October 1, but the quantum of the hike would be announced only on the evening of September 30," the MUL chief general manager, Mr. Rohtash Mal, told newsmen here today.

He said prices of all those models, of which prices were reduced three months ago to boost sales, would be increased.

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