Just pull out details of India’s best selling models and you will see the Maruti Suzuki Alto on the top. Putting on show the highest sales figures month after month, it looks like the Alto has become the unbeatable. What more can the car maker do to further enhance sales? Launch an enhanced version of the #1 model. That’s exactly what Maruti Suzuki planned to do, and the new car with the new K-Series engine is getting all set to launch next month.

The all-new Alto K10 will come with a larger power-packed 1000-cc engine. The car’s appearance has changed inside and out. The spy pics reveal that everything has changed for the good. The new Alto is 125 mm longer than the older version giving it much more space than its kinfolks in the B segment like the Estilo, the old WagonR and A-Star. The car gets a new headlamp shape and a redesigned bumper with fog lamps. The grille has been made wider with a thin chrome strip on top to give it an upmarket look.

It did not take too long for the brochure to get leaked. The brochure contained a picture of the aggressive Alto K10 with the mileage it’s gonna deliver. Any guesses? 20.2 kmpl! That’s what the new car will deliver. Maruti Suzuki has officially declined to reveal details about the car, but a spokesman said, “It will be an affordable, but aspirational product.” The K10 is believed to be come in the Rs 2.8-3.4 Lakh range. We hear that only top-end variants Lxi and Vxi will be available.

Tata Motors and Hyundai too are getting ready with similar models for the premium entry-level segment. So, just wait a while and you’ll see how tough the competition is going to get. Hyundai is thinking of a model priced below the Santro while Tata Motors is trying hard to come with something in between the world’s cheapest car and the Tata Indica.

While Maruti Suzuki sold over a million units last year, nearly a quarter of them were Altos. Neither the Nano nor any of the recently launched cars like the Ford Figo, Nissan Micra or VW Polo could beat the Alto in sales. The high-end Alto Lxi that contributes to 70 per cent of Maruti’s sales is priced at Rs. 2.8 Lakh and competes with the Rs 2.7 Lakh Santro standard and the 3.23 Lakh Chevy Spark.

Maruti Suzuki’s B segment, which is swarmed with models like the Alto, WagonR, A-Star, Ritz, Estilo and Swift, together contribute to over 70 per cent of its total domestic sales. Now the new Alto has been aimed at adding value to the Alto’s market share rather than disturbing it. Analysts say that Maruti Suzuki is looking to sell around 2 Lakh Altos and up to 1.5 Lakh K10s a year, raising the combined count by 40 per cent.

The Alto has always been Maruti Suzuki’s lucky charm when it comes to sales. Thanks to Tata Motors and Hyundai, for the first time, this model too will face competition. However, Maruti may not find it too difficult to tackle the issue. Even before the Tata Indica, Hyundai Santro and Daewoo Matiz came to India, Maruti Suzuki was going great guns with it M800, which actually set the foundation for small car market in India. The M800 was much cheaper and it stood out against the competition posed by the new entrants. Maruti Suzuki then quickly rolled out many more cars like the Baleno in 1999, the WagonR in early 2000 and the Alto around six months later.

The new car has been aimed at luring first-time buyers who may have been looking for something more rewarding in the entry mid-size range. At least 60 per cent of Alto buyers are first-timers, so we believe the new K10 will certainly do well.