maruti800

Maruti 800, the city car manufactured by Maruti Suzuki in India since 1984, is unlikely to roll out from the company's facility within the next few years. The root cause of its extinction would be the stringent Euro-IV emission norms that all the carmakers need to follow from 2010 onwards.

According to sources privy with the news and who requested anonymity, Maruti Suzuki has acknowledge the infeasibility of launching an Euro-IV compliant version of M800 by 2010, citing certain impracticalities like the engine's alignment etc. Moreover, its sales have plummetted for the past five years as consumers are swiching over to Alto and other cars under its competitor's stable, added sources. However, he didn't affirm M800's discontinuance in the medium term, as he claims that the company is still notching up 70,000 units annually of the aforesaid model.

The car used to be the largest selling car in India until the Maruti Alto recently took that title and is still also exported to a number of countries in southeastern Asia including Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and to some South American markets (as Chile, sold as Suzuki Maruti), and was earlier available in selected European markets between 1988 and 1992, sold as the Suzuki Maruti. In Morocco it is currently sold as Suzuki Maruti (as of March 2008). The car still comes in different variants including one with air conditioning and one without. It was launched in December 1984 with almost 100 per cent imported components. A Euro III emission compliant version of the car was released in 2005 in India.

The Maruti 800 is still popularly hailed in India as 'the smallest car in production' due to its relatively tightly spaced interior.Automobile analysts believed the car would be phased out once Maruti Suzuki brings down the price of Alto close to that of the Maruti 800. But MUL sources kept on claiming that Maruti 800 was the only entry-level car in the country today, and the company did not want to give up this position.

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