Maruti’s premium selling cars Alto and WagonR will soon get their engines replaced(from the current 800cc hatchback and 1.1lit respectively). This might reduce the price of these cars and become affordable thereby increasing the sale. This methodology has been envisaged after the successful run of KB series engine in Estilo , Ritz and A-Star. Alto and WagonR will get the codenamed engines YP3 which will replace the current F8D engine.
The components are getting ready and the cars will get them by this year end, in two variants with two cylinders(for Alto) and three cylinders(for WagonR). Maruti sensed the beeline entry of global car makers like VW, Nissan, Honda and Toyota in the small car segments, making an all effort to penetrate the Indian market. in addition, Hyundai, Ford and GM are already in the fore to force their cars in the Indian market and according to the MD for Suzuki Maruti, 2010-11 will be a toughest phase for the auto industry.
Maruti is to face Honda’s NSC(small car), Ford’s Figo, Fiat’s CNG variant Punto, Hyundai’s Santro(cheaper variant). Chevrolet UV-A, Skoda Fabia, GM Beat and Spark 800cc electric car are all in a bid to throw the gun at Maruti in the small car segment. Only Darwin can provide the solution with his formula ‘survival of the fittest’.