Country's largest passenger car maker, Maruti Suzuki is going to introduce the new variants of Alto, WagonR & Swift in a bid to mitigate the prospective challenges posed by rivals Toyota, Honda and Volkswagen which are set to enter in small car segment of the country.

The move by Maruti Suzuli India Ltd, the Indian arm of Japanese carmaker Suzuki Motor, would further stimulate competition in the country's highly potential small car market. The proposed new versions would be cheaper than the existing models and the firm is going to reverse the industry trend of by launching new variants at cheaper rates.

Maruti's CEO S Nakanishi had said few days ago that 2010 would bring new challenges for the company. He added, "We have to gain volumes to protect our market share with global car makers entering the compact car segment."

The new variant of Alto is expected to hit market in next three months at lower rates than its existing model for taking on Tata's Nano and keeping it top player in the sub-Rs 3 lakh segment. Alto has been selected for newer version as it fulfills Bharat Stage-IV norms for CO2 emissions and other criteria.