While the company has slashed price of S-Presso LXI petrol by Rs 2,000, Alto K10 VXI petrol is now cheaper by Rs 6,500. The revised prices have come into effect from September 2.
The decision comes even as demand for small cars has been under pressure the last couple of years due to a sharp increase in vehicle costs on back of changes in emissions and safety standards and higher input costs.
Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing and sales), Maruti Suzuki, said, “Due to different regulations which needed to be implemented in vehicles, the cost of these (small cars) vehicles have gone up substantially. However, at the same time, monthly household income of the set of customers has not gone up. This has resulted in a huge gap and they are not being able to buy the cars.”
He added whenever the company is coming up with innovative solutions, for example launching limited editions, it is seeing “very good traction”.
“As soon as the affordability index goes up, our take is that small car (demand) will com eback”, Banerjee informed.While SUVs now account for 55% of all cars sold in the local market, share of small cars have fallen to less than 30%.