News Desk: Automobile major Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. is expected to introduce a new small car to replace its largest selling model Alto before ‘Diwali’ this year.


As per some senior executives of the company, Maruti may introduce a new small car to replace its Alto, the country's largest-selling car model towards the third quarter of this financial year.


In the recent years a hold back in demand for gasoline-powered vehicles has been witnessed in India. This declining demand for gasoline cars has largely affected sales of Maruti.


As a result the local sales of Maruti has been reportedly got dropped by 11% in the fiscal year ended March 31 to 1.01 million. It sold only 308,288 units of the Alto, also down by 11%, during the fiscal year, according to industry data.


Hence it is expected that perhaps Maruti wanted to come up with this new small car to apprehend declining sales of the Alto.


Again, as customers usually prefer new models over existing ones, the new car may create a good market for itself.


The new car is expected to be launched on the eve of Diwali 2012, the Hindu Festival when vehicle sales arrive at their zenith in India.


It has also been reported that although Maruti is developing the new small car on its existing platform of Alto, it will be a completely new car.


At present, with the two factories in the northern Haryana state Maruti manufactures and sells eight small cars including the WagonR, A-Star, Estilo, Ritz, Swift and M800 and sedans Swift Dzire and SX4.

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