Bye-Bye Maruti-800!

Maruti Suzuki India will stop the production of it’s once flagship car Maruti-800 from April. India’s largest car- maker has no plans to upgrade its lowest- priced Maruti-800 model to meet Euro IV emissions standards. The sales of the model would be discontinued in 13 cities from April.

The cities where BSIV norms will set in from April 2010 are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Surat and Agra. Other cities will come under BSIII norms, making it possible for the company to sell the cars. However, these would also come under BSIV norms by around 2015-16, that would finally mean phase-out of the two models.

The company which has a whole lot of small cars in its portfolio – M-800, Alto, WagonR, Estilo, A-Star, Ritz and Swift, is now looking to reduce the number of its vehicle platforms. This will mean phasing out of some products that don’t meet emission norms.

Coming back to Maruti-800, the car since its debut in 1982 was for a long-long time ‘the’ car for India.  Just like Bajaj…Maruti800 had established itself as India’s car. I still remember how a Maruti owner was seen a person with a lavish lifestyle and how I felt like when we got our first Maruti!

The decline of the car started with the introduction of the Santro’s and the Alto’s. From then on, the car became the choice of ONLY the first time buyer and further…with the prices falling and the ‘Nano promises’ the company had no option but to stop the production.

And as they say all good things come to an end…and just like ‘Hamara Bajaj’ was phased out….we will witness the end of once the dream car of every Indian. Hate to say it….but finally…unlike the Maruti advertisement…Maruti800 ka petrol khatam hogaya!