According to Autocar Professional, Maruti Suzuki will launch the Alto 800 facelift in December this year. The new model will not only offer improved fuel-efficiency, but will also add a diesel engine to its line-up.

About the addition of the diesel motor, the report claims it will be the twin-cylinder 793cc unit developed by Suzuki. The carmaker introduced the same engine on the Celerio in June, 2015. The Celerio diesel puts out 47bhp and 125Nm of peak torque, and is claimed to return an ARAI-tested mileage of 27.62Km/l. However, the Alto 800 may return an improved figure, thanks to its lighter weight in comparison to that of the Celerio. If this comes to pass, the Alto 800 diesel will displace the Celerio diesel to become the most fuel-efficient car in India.

The new Alto 800 could also include the automated manual transmission (AMT) as an option.