[carwatcher]

This car is typical Maruti in looks department. Seems they have sent their design engineers on long leave after Swift. But they are also not to blame as all their cars are selling in huge numbers. I think this car may be christened Alto-Star.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Word of the day: Contraption.

Many thanks for providing the unintended ROTFLMAO of the morning!

Thats why you are a "phamily"man.

[iliketurtles]

Ugly car, but no one will car if it's economical to run. Design wise it leaves a lot to be desired though, so it really boils down to the Maruti badge versus the Eon's looks if these two cars are to be priced similarly.

Seriously though, why should a reasonably priced car eschew reasonably good looks? The Eon has set a very high benchmark in that department, and this is barely a fitting riposte from Maruti. Just my 2 cents.

[namit]

It seems a Maruti Employee has bought the Japanese Alto which must be built in India for exports and not sure if this car would be launched in India.

Although, not a big fan of any of the Maruti cars (no offence meant and have owned 800s and Zens in the past), but i seem to like this car as a good replacement for my Santro, if launched.

Coming to Eon, my view, although the car looks good with brilliant interiors and exteriors but the engine is not in the league of 3 pot Maruti engines. We Indians may buy Eon in abundance but i think Eon is the worst car from Hyundai, from technical perspective.

[Jayant..B]

Suzuki definitely falling behind Hyundai in terms of styling. Interesting to see if this vehicle is launched, where will it be positioned in the long lineup of hatchbacks from it's own stable.

[anachronix]

I read about the A-Star facelift thats going to be on display in the 2012 Autoexpo in Dec'11 TG-India mag. May be that!?

[architect]

Originally Posted by zalaps

Original Japanese model can be seen here.

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

This is a suzuki Alto that i saw once here in Tokyo.

Thanks, this is indeed the JDM Alto, no mistaking the front end, tail lights and the wheel cap.

BTW, this is the second unknown hatchback I have spotted in two days in Gurgaon. On saturday 26 Nov I spotted a hatchback on the expressway which looked like the Spark / Matiz but had different headlights and tail-lights. The badge looked like Daewoo but the car looked fairly new. At triple digit speeds, I was not in a position to take pictures. The car had decent steam till about 70-80 kph and kept up with me quite well (so not the original Matiz 800cc engine) but beyond 70 kph, it was just sort of left standing by the MJD's turbo.

Originally Posted by arvi86

That's a great scoop! Thanks for your efforts in bringing it to all of us. After the launch of the Eon, the Alto definitely needs a facelift (or next-gen model) to stay in the competition. Except the engine, Alto has nothing going for it now.

Which is why I took the pictures. It is indeed high time that the Alto was replaced with something more contemporary. It is not really the Pajero that it can continue because it is a fantastic platform.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Look at the size!
Its defenitly going to be more spacious/ practical compared to the A-star. I recently tried my team-mate's A-star.

Originally Posted by arvi86

Having said that, this Alto definitely looks bigger than the current A-Star and Alto/K10. But, as pointed out by many others in the forum, it looks pretty bland and boring from the outside compared to the stylish Eon.

Not only does it look bigger, it also seemed to have lots of space. Just see the position of the driver's head in the pictures and imagine the headroom. It's truly the younger brother of the WagonR.

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

i highly suspect if this is under some test or like that. it;s properly privately registered car , quite possible individual import.

Originally Posted by namit

It seems a Maruti Employee has bought the Japanese Alto which must be built in India for exports and not sure if this car would be launched in India.

It is a properly registered import, no doubt about that. The only thing is why would anyone want to import a car like this, since there are so many better options out here. Hence this thread.

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Looks very much a cross between the A-Star and an Eon. Somehow, the Eon would score higher in the looks department, IMO.

Originally Posted by iliketurtles

Ugly car... Design wise it leaves a lot to be desired though... Seriously though, why should a reasonably priced car eschew reasonably good looks? The Eon has set a very high benchmark in that department, and this is barely a fitting riposte from Maruti. Just my 2 cents.

Originally Posted by namit

Coming to Eon, my view, although the car looks good with brilliant interiors and exteriors

Originally Posted by Jayant..B

Suzuki definitely falling behind Hyundai in terms of styling.

Originally Posted by samigo

On the design parameter, Maruti is getting it all wrong.

Well, while I agree that small hatchbacks also need to look good, I (personally) refuse to acknowledge the Eon as some parameter of beauty. I would prefer the bland looks of this car to the unnecessary cuts and curves of the Eon.

[speedsatya]

I remember seeing advertisements of the Indian A-Star as the next generation Alto in the UK .

It is only here in India that MUL sells cars of all generations at the same time .

Guess this car spotted here is a direct import which MUL is using to test on Indian roads.

And yeah ...the rear is really ugly !

[pb10gagan]

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

This is a suzuki Alto that i saw once here in Tokyo. looks like Maruti were desperate to revive sales of A-star & with eon making waves & alto nearing life cycle, they end up with this contraception which is neither alto nor A-star .

i highly suspect if this is under some test or like that. it;s properly privately registered car , quite possible individual import.

At first it looks like that, but why would someone import an Alto with black rear view mirror and black door handles?
Anyone who can afford to import an Alto from Japan would not want it to be a cut price version and i am not sure whether they sell cut price version of Alto in Japan.
This definitely looks like a cost reduced version of Japanese Alto for the cost conscious Indian masses, maybe in the initial phase of feasibility analysis and testing.

[.sushilkumar]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Word of the day: Contraption.

Many thanks for providing the unintended ROTFLMAO of the morning!

mistakes do Happens specially when you has;t slept for whole night. thanks for pointing that out like a true Phamily Man

Originally Posted by pb10gagan

At first it looks like that, but why would someone import an Alto with black rear view mirror and black door handles?
Anyone who can afford to import an Alto from Japan would not want it to be a cut price version and i am not sure whether they sell cut price version of Alto in Japan.
This definitely looks like a cost reduced version of Japanese Alto for the cost conscious Indian masses, maybe in the initial phase of feasibility analysis and testing.

good question . i can think of one answer

some eccentric rich might have lost bet and hence was forced to import it .
Jokes apart , One thing is sure , this is not a test / feasibility car as predicted by few but a individually owned / registered car. unfortunately Haryana transport dept has no online search facility of registration no , to ascertain the current owner of the registration no .

[romeomidhun]

It would be a disaster if Maruti replace current A-Star / Alto with this tall boy.

Why Maruti needs so many tall boys in their line-up? They have WR, Estilo and Ritz. Replacing the low-slung sporty A-Star or small handy Alto with this car will definitely back-fire. First time buyers will definitely prefer a small Alto. Also, what A-Star needs is a bit more length (1 feet extra?) that can be converted into good boot space and rear leg space, a redesign of the head lamps to make it more matured, and lowering the side panels to make it feel more airy.

[girishglg]

As ACM pointed out this must be a Japan-Domestic-Market (JDM) Suzuki Alto. It seems at first impression a test vehicle given to a MSIL employee to drive around our roads and get public impression as well. Even though it is an Japanese Alto, by the similarities in the front with the A Star, it might pull off as the next version of the A Star. With the added space in the rear, it might really be a winner afterall since the brand does really well with the young and single section of the car buying populace and now small families would have a credible hatch with more space to choose from.

[sandeepmdas]

IMO, this car conveys an image of a sorry figure. Even our Nano looks more aggressive and purpose-built. That particular color complements the tin-can effect. The present-day K10 is far, far proportionate in design.

But then MSIL is known for the pricing/reliability/support and who knows, this could be the next best-selling car of India. I sincerely hope this car will replace A-Star or Estilo and not Alto.

[infotech58]

Nice Catch !!

since this car has not been OFFICIALLY launched in India, wouldn't there have been problems while registering it with RTO? I remember reading about instances when members bought a newly launched car and RTO delayed the registration process by a day or two because they were yet to recieve the details of the newly launched car in their system.

[smashnerd]

I guess they might be planning to replace both the Alto and A-Star in one go. A-Star ain't no big seller anyway and they do need a better product to take on the Eon. This might be it.

[pgsagar]

Replacement for A-Star? But it looks more like an older model of A-Star. Current A-Star looks a lot better.