Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 launched in India at Rs. 2.44 lakh

Maruti Suzuki today launched the much hyped small car ‘Alto 800’ in New Delhi. The Alto 800 prices starts from Rs. 2.44 lakh for STD variant going up to Rs. 3,56,000/- for LXI CNG variant (all prices ex-showroom, New Delhi). The Alto 800 will not replace the existing Alto and Alto K10, instead will sell along with them. The Alto 800 indeed replaces the Maruti 800 which has been a highly successful car in automotive history.

Maruti has worked on the engine for the new Alto 800 to give better fuel efficiency, torque and power. The car is 15 mm wider and taller than the Alto, as a result of which headroom and legroom is quiet good now. However the car’s length has been reduced by 20mm because of better engine packaging. The suspension has been tweaked for a better ride.

Other than that, there are no changes to Alto 800 on paper. The ground clearance is 160 mm, as of the Alto and so do the engine capacity which is 3 cylinder 796 cc. The einge is coupled to the same Alto’s 5 speed gearbox. The car returns fuel efficiency of 22.74 Kmpl for petrol and 30.46 Km per Kg of CNG (ARAI figures).

Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 Prices (All prices ex-showroom, New Delhi):

		Metallic	Non Metallic
Maruti Alto 800 STD	:	Rs. 2,44,000/-	Rs. 2,40,776/-
MARUTI Alto 800 STD CNG	:	Rs. 3,19,000/-	Rs. 3,15,776/-
Maruti Alto 800 LX	:	Rs. 2,76,500/-	Rs. 2,73,276/-
Maruti Alto 800 LX CNG	:	Rs. 3,37,000/-	Rs. 3,33,776/-
Maruti Alto 800 LXI	:	Rs. 2,99,000/-	Rs. 2,95,776/-
Maruti Alto 800 LXI (AIRBAG)	:	Rs. 3,14,000/-	Rs. 3,10,776/-
Maruti Alto 800 LXI CNG	:	Rs. 3,56,000/-	Rs. 3,52,776/-

Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 available colours:

Ford Figo facelift launched at Rs. 3.85 lakh

Ford India has launched the Figo facelift priced at Rs. 3.85 lakh for base petrol and Rs. 4.81 lakh for the base diesel variant. The facelift include redesigned front bumper, slight changes in headlamp and tail lamp cluster. The Figo facelift is not just cosmetic changes to the exterior. There are host of new features added to the car.

New features added to Ford Figo:

Bluetooth and iPod connectivity.

New fabrics and seat design.

New ‘Reviera Blue’ instrument panel colour.

New colours – ‘Bright Yellow’ and ‘Kinetic Blue’ added.

Double Bulb weather strips on the door.

Redesigned head rests on the front seats.

New alloy wheels carried over from Fiesta.

Ford has also worked on the gearshift which is now smother and takes less effort to change gears. The front seats lumbar support has also been improved. 

New Ford Figo Petrol Prices (All prices ex-showroom Delhi):

New Ford Figo 1.2L Duratec LXI: Rs. 3,84,999/-

New Ford Figo 1.2L Duratec EXI: Rs. 4,22,999/-

New Ford Figo 1.2L Duratec ZXI: Rs. 4,52,999/-

New Ford Figo 1.2L Duratec Titanium: Rs. 5,01,999/-

New Ford Figo Diesel Prices (All prices ex-showroom Delhi):

New Ford Figo 1.4L Duratorq LXI: Rs. 4,81,999/-

New Ford Figo 1.4L Duratorq  EXI: Rs. 5,20,999/-

New Ford Figo 1.4L Duratorq ZXI: Rs. 5,50,999 /-

New Ford Figo 1.4L Duratorq Titanium: Rs. 5,99,999/-

New Ford Figo Colors:

1.       Sea Grey

2.       Diamond White

3.       Colorado Red

4.       Bright Yellow (New)

5.       Kinetic Blue (New)

6.       Panther Black

7.       Moondust Silver

8.       Chill Metallic

9.       Diamond White

Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 receives 6500 even before launch

Maruti Suzuki’s big day of recent times is just a day away and guess what? the new Alto 800 has already received 6500 bookings. Maruti Suzuki opened bookings for the car just 15 days back through its teaser website www.marutisuzukialto800.com. The teaser website has received over 3,50,000 hits already. The new Alto 800 has arrived the dealerships in Bangalore. Mandovi Motors has already displayed the covered car with some balloons sticked on it.  

Mr. Mayank Pareek, Chief Operating Officer, Maruti Suzuki India - "Despite the price remaining unknown to customers, who have not seen the car fully, we have received 6,500 bookings of the new Alto. At this rate, we are confident that it will cross 10,000 when we launch the car on October 16”.

The new Alto 800 though not as pretty as the Nano, will sell in good numbers and Maruti wants it to start from where the old Alto left. In September, Alto sold over 30,000/- units and with the new model Maruti wants to increase the sales numbers still further. With the new engine dynamics, better fuel efficiency and new interiors, the Alto 800 is definitely better than the old model, but as we have been saying for some time, Maruti could have designed the new model much better!

Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 Specifications

PVC Flooring in Cars

PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride) is a type of plastic. PVC matting can be seen on the floor and walls of buildings which can also be used in the floor of a car. Sheets of PVC are cut and glued and laid over the OE carpet of the car. The advantage of PVC flooring in cars is, the floor of the car can be cleaned easily with a wet cloth unlike the OE carpets. Rubber mats on the PVC flooring can be put to enhance the ambiance of the car.

How is PVC flooring done in cars?

PVC sheets are available in market and come in 3x4 ft size. Before staring both front and rear seats are removed by loosening the nuts/bolt. The carpet is cleaned neatly with the help of vacuum cleaner. 4 PVC sheets are necessary for the 4 foot wells of the car. Each PVC sheets are laid on the carpet in the foot well and cut according to the elevations and glued together. The sides of the PVC sheets are then tucked inside the sidewall beading/plastics. The procedure takes 1 to 2 hours depending upon the skill of the person who does the job. The work needs high skill of craftsmanship and an experienced person can do a good job to your car. PVC sheets are available in 4 colours - Ribbed Black, Grey, Beige And Transparent.

Advantages:

1)       The OE carpet does not get expose to dust, hence gets protection.

PVC sheets are water resistant and any spillage of water can be wiped with a cloth.

2)       The floor of the car can be wiped and cleaned with a wet cloth – helpful in rainy seasons.

3)       Cheap and would cost Rs. 1500/-

Disadvantages:

1)       Unskilled craftsmanship can ruin the job otherwise neatly done by an experienced person. Also the glue might spill on the carpet and could get damaged if you want to remove the PVC flooring.

2)       Have to remove the seats which are a cumbersome work.

3)       Though PVC matting helps maintain cleanliness of the car, it spoils the ambiance of the car.

4)       There could be fungal growth beneath the PVC sheets which may damage the carpet and may cause corrosion of metal floor of the car. 

5)       The smell of the PVC sheets is not acceptable to all. 

Toyota introduces Limited Edition Corolla Altis

Off late Toyota has been launching limited edition of its vehicles in India. The latest limited edition from Toyota is Corolla Altis limited edition. To remind our readers, Toyota earlier launched a limited edition Corolla Altis named Aero. Last month Toyota launched Aero edition of its MPV Innova. 

As most of the manufacturers launch limited edition of top end models, Toyota this time has done other way round. The limited edition of Corolla Altis is available in base Petrol and Diesel variants. The Corolla Altis limited edition gets following additional features -

New distinctive grill
Reprofiled rear combination lamps
Mildly modified rear bumper
Limited Edition badge
5.8 inch touchscreen audio system with Bluetooth connectivity
New four spoke steering wheel
Key less entry

All this features adds essence to the otherwise bare base petrol and diesel variants of Toyota Corolla Altis. The limited edition Corolla Altis marks 10 years anniversary of Corolla in India.

Distinctive Grill

Dashboard – Touchscreen and 4 spoke steering wheel

The new limited edition Toyota Corolla Altis is priced at Rs. 11.45 lakh for base petrol and Rs. 12.84 lakh for base diesel variant respectively (all prices ex-showroom, Mumbai).

Nissan giving discounts and offers on Micra and Sunny this October

Nissan is giving attractive offers and promotional schemes on Micra and Sunny this October to boost sales. The offers and discounts come in line with other manufactures who are trying to woe customers this festive season.

Promotional schems on Micra and Sunny -

1) Refund of the car amount for lucky dip winners.

2) A contest is organised where winner of will get 500 gms of gold worth Rs.     16.5 lakh.

3) Exchange bonus of Rs. 10,000

4) Low EMI

5) Extended warranty on all purchases

6) Assured gifts ranging from 2g gold to accessories

*All the above mentioned offers are available only during festive season. Nissan has not defined ‘festive season’, so we believe it to be Diwali period.

Press Release-

Mr. Nitish Tipnis, Director – Sales & Marketing, Hover Automotive India - “Nissan believes in Innovation and Excitement for everyone and this season, we are providing much more benefits than just the car. The attraction of winning gold worth more than Rs 16.5 lakhs as well as getting ones car free surely makes this offer difficult to resist. To make the product purchase convenient for our customers, we are also offering 100% finance and various low EMI options.”

Ford Ecosport, the next big launch in Indian Automotive Market

Indian car market is slowly shifting towards mini SUVs and no wonder; every player wants to have a mini SUV in their portfolio. Renault and Mahindra by launching Duster and Quanto has started the mini SUV revolution in India. The next big launch in Indian automotive market will be the Ford Ecosport mini SUV which will be launched early next year.

Ford has started testing the Ecosport in India and spy pictures of test mules were taken near Chennai where Ford has a manufacturing plant. We came across some clear spy pictures of Ecosport through our friend MotorBash, and what is interesting is Ecosport will have an automatic variant as well. The Ecosport automatic variant will be the first vehicle in its class to have an automatic transmission which helps to easily manuover the vehicle in tight traffic. The interiors look very similar to the All new Fiesta, so Ford will share the parts and keep the Ecosport competitive.

The Ecosport will come in both Petrol and Diesel engines. Ford’s revolutionary 1.0L Ecoboost petrol engine will maket its India debut with Ecosport. Though being just 1.0L, the Ecoboost petrol engine produces 125 Bhp of power and 200 Nm of torque, thats why Ford calls it ‘Revolutionary Engine Technology’. The diesel engine will be carried from All new Fiesta which is a 1.5L common rail engine with 90 Ps of power.

 Regarding pricing of Ecoboost, Ford has already announced it will price Ecoboost less than the Duster. Being less than 4 meters in length, the Ecoboost enjoys 12% tax as compared to 24% for other vehicles. Sharing of parts will futher help Ford to keep the price competitive and having seen the success of Figo (which has been priced very competitively) Ford will price Ecosport at around Rs. 7 lakh for base petrol variant and Rs. 7 to 8 lakh for base diesel one.

We here at Automobile Planet are eagerly waiting to see the Ecosport on the roads soon and we guess many would be having same thoughts as we do...