How to make a buck from particularly small cars? The blunt assessment from most makers is that they cannot. The general consensus is that the New Zealand new car environment is fatally hostile to tiddlers.

Basically, anything above 1.2-litres has a chance. Anything under probably doesn't.

It's not a theory accepted by Suzuki New Zealand, obviously. It has just returned the teensy Alto, a budget five-door buy still powered by a 996cc three-cylinder petrol engine, to the market.

Suzuki is a small car specialist and its Swift hatchback, the Alto's big brother, has been one of the country's best-selling models for several years. It also tops the ratings in the so-called supermini category, domiciled by a mix of mainly 1.6-litre cars.

The supermini category has achieved greatest growth in a massively depressed new car market this year. Other contenders making good include the Ford Fiesta, Honda Jazz, Toyota Yaris, Mazda2 and - even though it is essentially on runout - the Hyundai Getz.

But superminis are one thing; cars that are smaller still quite another. Sit the Alto alongside a Swift and you'll see a world of difference.

Need a memory jog to remember the old Alto? The concept goes back three decades was created to contest the Kei class, a Japanese category designed to exploit local tax and insurance relaxations. For a while, New Zealand was one of the few international markets for these cars, and Alto was the most successful type here. But Kiwi affections eroded once used imports came along and suddenly seemed a better deal. Though often, of course, they weren't.

The Alto itself disappeared for a while, and the seventh-generation version we now see is returning to a virtually empty playground. All the other small fry, including those from arch-rival Daihatsu, have gone.

Just as the scene has changed, so has the Suzuki. The new Alto has not grown much, but the design and, in particular, safety has improved. But is this enough to win back hearts?

What Suzuki really needs is another good old fuel crisis; in the old days, every time pump prices climbed, so did sales. Still, even with petrol prices looking stable, Suzuki NZ reckons the average NZ motorist is starting to consider thrift.

"We all know the large car is no longer the staple diet ... small cars are now the biggest-selling vehicles in the country," asserts Gary Collins, the Wanganui-based brand's automobile sales manager.

"Customers are looking for smaller cars that offer better fuel economy and are cheaper to run."

Alto's popularity with the older driver was no urban myth, but Suzuki points out that presently 87 percent of sub-1.3-litre cars are sold to private buyers in the 40-plus age bracket. Regardless, Mr Collins reckons the Alto could appeal to a younger audience than it has - well, sub-60s, anyway.

He also holds that the car, selling for $16,990 in five-speed manual and $18,500 for the four-stage auto, sits as a good value alternative to petrol electric hybrids.

It's an obvious reference to the Toyota Prius, which despite being larger and heavier actually achieves slightly better stated economy than the Alto - but at four times the price.

The Alto was designed in Japan and, we're told, styled for Europe, but it is built in India, by Maruti, whose association with Suzuki goes back to 1983. It started out as an assembler, but now creates entire cars. You might recall that Suzuki tried Maruti-built four-wheel-drives here for a while.

Does sourcing the car from the sub-continent save? Hyundai New Zealand reckons India's not so cheap. It recently gave up on plans to bring in an Alto equivalent called the i10 because it's too costly to get from the only source point, a new plant in Mumbai.

Development cost might also be affected by this Alto, unlike the others, being a co-development with a bigger brand. It's a sister car to a Nissan, the Pixo, that seems likely to remain in Japan - at least until it's spotted by the used import trade.

The Alto was previewed by a concept called the A-Star, but the production spin-off isn't as attractive or as sporty. The Alto's engine might be thrifty, but with just 50kW power and 90Nm torque it's not going to be a powerhouse. Officially, the manual clocks 0-100kmh in 14 seconds and top speed is 150kmh.

From a first look - conducted at a local dealership (there was no media launch for this car) - the 3.5-metre Alto does not appear have been developed in the same way as the Swift, whose design quality has won numerous plaudits.

The walk-around suggested Indian quality isn't on par with Japan's; fit and finish is less exact and it's a long time since we last spotted an orange peel finish on a new car.

Alto also hasn't been given high-quality materials to furnish and attractively finish off the interior. Cabin plastics are drab in look and feel somewhat on the cheap side. And there's plenty of cost-cutting evident, from the flimsy parcel shelf to the lack of grab handles and manual adjusters for the side mirrors.

It is not quite a packaging miracle, either, but it will also accommodate four adults of medium build and height in reasonable comfort. The boot is tiny and isn't helped by a high load lip Practicality can be improved by folding down the rear seats.

The Alto scored four stars out of five in Australasian NCAP testing, with criticism only that backseat whiplash protection was rated as "marginal". With a total of six airbags (front, side and curtain), it is better-sorted than any previous Alto and a long way removed from the first version, which under 'Kei' class rules wasn't even required to pass a crash test.

For all that has changed with the car, Suzuki NZ has still resorted to a traditional marketing play, by highlight the car's economy. It staged a 'real-world' return drive from Auckland to Bluff to prove the official returns claimed for the car could be achieved.

Actually, they were bettered. The manual example averaged 4.4 litres per 100km, beating the official stated figure of 4.8L/100km, while the auto returned 5.0L/100km, or 0.5L/100km below the official Australian Design Rules figure.

It was surely an ironic, if not intentional, twist that the brand enlisted the two ancients of New Zealand motoring journalism, retirement-aged Donn Anderson and Allan Dick, to undertake the drive.

We assume the figures were down to Anderson, an economy-driving expert. He knows full well the benefits of being light-footed.

His colleague reckons they went at a fair clip, though no average speeds have been presented. Dick's reckoning that '(we) were never passed by anything that wasn't going the other way' and contention that his car's speed on the Auckland Wellington leg was at a licence-losing pace seems at odds with the car's obvious persona. But, hey, it makes for a good story ...

Meantime, take note that Suzuki itself has identified that it can no longer remain merely a small vehicle specialist.

In the past week the largest name in the baby business has been introducing North American journalists to a car it has cited as being 'most important', particularly in the United States.

It's called Kizashi and is a Mondeo-sized sedan that will be in New Zealand in 2010 next year.

What this means to you: Alto should be inexpensive to buy and run, but low-cost can also mean cheap in other ways. It doesn't cost much more to buy into bigger, better-equipped small cars.