Maruti Suzuki India has decided to stop manufacturing the Maruti 800 (M800), its first car in India launched in 1983 by the end of April 2012. Since its launch in India in 1983, the car has sold about 27,00,000 units.
The company had already stopped selling the car in 11 Indian cities including the four metro cities by 2010 and has been since pushing the sales of the Alto, its new entry level car launched in 2004. Moreover, the did Maruti 800 not meet the new emission norms required by automobiles in Tier 1 cities.
The sales of the Maruti 800 have been declining due to the entry of new players in the market. In the fiscal 2011-12, the company sold about 2,000 units of the M800 on a monthly basis in comparison to 5,000 units sold in 2010-11.