The Maruti 800: India's People's Car, 1983 to 2014
The Maruti 800 was handed to its first buyer in New Delhi on 14 December 1983 and stayed in production for 31 years. Here is its story, with the dates and figures.
In this article
The Maruti 800 was a small Indian-built car based on a Suzuki design. Its first unit was handed to a buyer in New Delhi on 14 December 1983, and the last was built in January 2014, after 31 years of production. About 2.87 million were made. It is widely described as India's first affordable people's car. This article sets out how it came about, what it was, how it changed and why production ended.
How Maruti came to build it
The 800's story begins with an earlier company. Wikipedia's article on Maruti Suzuki says Maruti Motors Limited was set up in August 1971 with Sanjay Gandhi as its first managing director. It fell short of its targets, with only 21 units made by 31 March 1976, and the Government of India took control of Maruti by legislation in 1980.
The company that built the 800 is a later one. Wikipedia gives 24 February 1981 as the date Maruti Udyog Limited was established as a joint venture between the Government of India and Suzuki of Japan. The article on the car says the licence and joint-venture agreement with Suzuki was signed on 2 October 1982, and a production facility opened in Gurugram in 1982. Suzuki's initial holding was 26 per cent, which Wikipedia says rose to 50 per cent in 1992 and 56.21 per cent by 2013.
The first car
According to Wikipedia, the first car was handed over in New Delhi on 14 December 1983. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave the keys to Harpal Singh, who had won the car in a lucky draw. Autocar Professional, an Indian trade publication, also names Harpal Singh as an Indian Airlines employee from Delhi, and says the car came from the Maruti Udyog plant in Gurgaon, Haryana. CarWale gives the launch date as 14 December 1983.
What the car was
The first generation was known as the SS80. Wikipedia says it was based on the 1979 Suzuki Alto and used an 800 cc engine; the engine's displacement was 796 cc, with three cylinders in a line. Gearboxes were a four-speed manual, with a three-speed automatic available as an option.
Autocar Professional describes it as a four-door, four-seater, much smaller than the Hindustan Ambassador and the Premier Padmini that were common on Indian roads, and lists front-wheel drive, bucket seats, a floor-mounted gear lever, a moulded plastic dashboard and front disc brakes. CarWale says it was the first model in India with a front-wheel-drive layout. Early cars arrived from Japan as completely knocked-down kits and were assembled at Gurgaon; production later moved fully to India.
Price and demand
CarWale says the first-generation car retailed for around Rs 50,000, and that early buyers in the lottery system sometimes paid a lakh or more for the car. Autocar Professional says buyers queued for long periods to get one. Autocar Professional does not state a price, and other outlets give slightly different figures for the launch price, so treat the number as approximate.
Changes over the years
- 1986: a full model change brought the second generation, called SB308, based on the 1984 Alto, according to Wikipedia.
- 1987: exports began, with 500 cars shipped to Hungary. Sales later reached markets including France, the Netherlands, the UK and Italy.
- 1997: a facelift.
- 2000: fuel injection and four valves per cylinder raised output to 46 hp and met Euro II emission standards.
- 2005 and 2008: a Euro III version, then an LPG version.
The end of production
Wikipedia says sales were halted in 13 major cities from April 2010, because the car could not meet the Euro IV emission norms, and that Maruti replaced it with the second-generation Alto 800. The last car came off the line on 18 January 2014. CarWale puts the end of production in February 2014, so sources differ slightly on the month.
Production totals are given as about 2.87 million built and about 2.66 million sold in India. Wikipedia calls it India's best-selling car until 2004, when the Alto passed it. CarWale instead says the 800 was the best-selling model until the Alto passed 29 lakh unit sales in October 2015. The two claims use different measures, as one looks at yearly sales and the other at cumulative sales, and the sources do not explain further.
Why it is remembered
Autocar Professional credits the 800 with helping to urbanise and industrialise India, citing easy repairs, low running costs and a service network that set a benchmark. It also says the car gave many Indian women the confidence to drive. Its engine lives on, the article says, in the modern Maruti Suzuki Alto. Maruti Suzuki's growth afterwards is part of the same story: Wikipedia lists a stock-market listing in 2003 and the ten-millionth vehicle sold in India in 2012.
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