Suzuki’s 2009 Alto arrived in March boasting among the lowest CO2 tailpipe ticket of any five door car to date: 103g/km (road tax band ‘B’ at £35 a year). A look at the more obvious competition – Hyundai i10; Toyota-Peugeot-Citroen Aygo/107/C1; FIAT Panda and Ford KA – tends to support that.

Another significant thing about the Alto is that it’s built in India – and it’s a car a Japanese company is happy to send to Europe under its own name. Maruti-Suzuki builds it at its New Delhi plant. For 25 years that joint venture has built the country’s best selling car. Tata’s (even cheaper) Nano is the first serious challenge to it.