There is no denying the fact that the Maruti 800 put India on wheels. The iconic 800 was launched on 14th December 1983 and had a dream run till 2004, ruling the sales chart in India for 21 years straight. In 2004, the 800’s sibling, the Alto overtook the former and by 2010, the phase out of the vehicle commenced. When the metro cities upgraded to BS4 emission norms in 2010, Maruti Suzuki decided to pull the plug on the 800, albeit gradually. The company continued to sell the car in other markets where BS3 emission norms were still in play.
Now with the country all set to upgrade to stricter emission norms, Maruti Suzuki has rolled out the very last 800 from its Gurgaon factory, on the 18th of January 2014. Not many units of the 800 were being manufactured post 2010 by India’s largest car maker even though the demand was quite high in rural markets. Maruti was producing around 20,000 units of the icon every year but will continue to supply spares for the next 10 years. Maruti has to supply spares, after all more than 27 lakh units of the 800 have been sold in India in the past three decades!
The original Japanese Maruti 800 was more unique and gave you a ego massage that even a Rolls-Royce Ghost won’t manage today. You couldn’t get one off the shelf, you had to wait long (like 3 years plus) and by the time your number came, the prices had increased two-fold. In fact, buying a Maruti 800 in the 1980s was a fruitful investment. We know many people who sold their car in the second hand market for far more than what they paid in the first place, such was the gap in demand and supply for the original 800 which was simply referred to as Maruti in those times.
The Maruti 800 was among the first few front-wheel drive cars in the Indian market which led to it being very economical to run. The quality of these original Japanese spec models was simply outstanding, few of them still run on the road and we reviewed one prime example recently (read HERE). There were three major revisions to the car over its life cycle with each being equally successful and unmistakably belonging to the same family. The 800 might be forgotten soon but it has played a vital role in changing the fate of India’s 4-wheeler market.
