Came in 1983, left in 2014, this legendary car sold nearly 3 million units

Over the years, the country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India, has introduced several bestsellers, including the Alto, WagonR, Swift, Baleno and Brezza. However, there is one model that disrupted the entire passenger vehicle segment. Although it was small in size, it packed a hefty punch. We are talking about none other than the legendary 800.

The Maruti 800 was launched in India in 1983, priced at Rs 47,500 (ex-showroom). A Delhi-based gentleman, Harpal Singh, was the first owner of the Maruti 800. To make things all the more special, he got his car keys from none other than the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.

As new models arrived, the Maruti 800 witnessed a decline in volumes, especially from 2010, and was finally discontinued in 2014. In its 31-year-long run, the Maruti 800 clocked volumes of around 2,917,000 units.

Only four cars in India have registered higher volumes than the Maruti 800. They are the Maruti Suzuki Alto, Hyundai i10 brand (i10, i10 Grand and Grand i10 Nios), Maruti Suzuki Swift and Maruti Suzuki WagonR.

At the time of its discontinuation, the Maruti 800 employed a 796cc, 3-cylinder, petrol engine, which developed 37bhp of max power and 59Nm of peak torque. The engine was mated to a 4-speed manual transmission.

The petrol version of the Maruti 800 with an air conditioner was priced at around Rs 2.20 lakh (ex-showroom).