Maruti Suzuki Dzire's rise is not by fluke, beats top-seller Alto second month in a row

Alto, Maruti Suzuki's workhorse, is the bestselling car of India for the 13th year in a row. The entry-level hatchback retained top spot in monthly sales chart all these years despite the onslaught of new models. However, in August 2017, a new rival snatched away the top-selling car of India tag from the Alto. Apparently, this model is also from the same stable, Maruti Suzuki's new Dzire.

For those who think it is just a one-off situation, the Dzire compact sedan has overtaken Alto for the second month in a row to become the bestselling model in the country. Maruti Suzuki sold 31,427 units of the Dzire in September while the Alto had only 23,830 takers.

In August, Dzire beat Alto for the first time with 26,140 unit sales against 21,521 units of Alto. Maruti Suzuki launched the all-new Dzire in May this year with an improved design based on a new platform. In just five and half months, the compact sedan recorded over 1 lakh sales and that makes it clear that Alto will have a tough time ahead to regain its lost title in the upcoming months.

Thanks to the festive season sales' surge, Maruti Suzuki sold over 60,000 Dzire units in August and September alone. As the demand for the new Dzire scales up, the waiting period is also getting extended. Dzire now commands a waiting period of up to 16 weeks which was 12 weeks previously.

Available in the price range from Rs 5.45 lakh to Rs 9.41 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), the new Dzire is pitted against Ford Aspire, Volkswagen Ameo, Tata Tigor and Hyundai Xcent.

Under the hood, the new Dzire gets the tried-and-tested 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol and 1.3-litre four-cylinder diesel engines of the previous model. The petrol engine churns out 82bhp at 6,000rpm and 113Nm of torque at 4,200rpm while the diesel model is tuned to dish out 74bhp at 4,000rpm and 190Nm at 2,000rpm. Transmission is handled by a five-speed manual gearbox, which comes as standard and five-speed AMT.