Gearhead Picks From Paris - Suzuki Alto/A-Star

If you think that this is some sort of an attempt by Suzuki at making your life miserable if you are in the market for a small hatch, you can’t be more wrong. Given they have more models and variants in the small car segment than any other manufacturer, launching the new Alto or the A-Star as it will be called here in India is a good thing. You see there is already a marked shift in the Suzuki sales here. The Alto makes more numbers than the 800. The Swift has people waiting for it in lines miles long and cars like the Wagon-R and the Estilo (please don’t call it the Zen) will be all but forgotten when the car comes out at the end of this month.

Also the car is a modern design and should meet modern safety standards, comes with the latest generation powerplant and will be made in India for the world. So the quality should be right up there with the best. Bet you people will be drooling all over it in no time.

This little number is powered by a new 1.0 liter three cylinder engine making 68 PS of power. The car measures 3500 mm in length which is well within the regulations for the tax sops which the government has stipulated. Fuel efficiency should hover around the 18 kmpl mark and should hit a top speed of a 150 kmph.

Pricing is going to be the key and it should find a place somewhere below the Swift. After launch in India the car will go on sale in other international markets by the beginning of next year.