Maruti hikes prices of diesel DZire by up to Rs 12,000

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The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India has raised the prices of the new diesel variants of its sedan DZire by up to Rs 12,000 from this month, citing input costs pressure.

"The company is feeling the pressure of input costs. To mitigate the impact, we have hiked the prices of only diesel variants of the new DZire with effect from May 1," a senior Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) official said.

The company has increased the rates of the model between Rs 8,000 and Rs 12,000, he added.

In February this year, MSI had rolled out a shorter version of its entry-level sedan DZire at an introductory price between Rs 4.79 lakh and Rs 7.09 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

The company priced the petrol variants of the new DZire between Rs 4.79 lakh and Rs 6.54 lakh, while the diesel ones come for Rs 5.80 lakh to Rs 7.09 lakh.

The new model is available in both petrol and diesel options and it qualifies for the excise duty of 10 per cent enjoyed by small cars as it is shorter than 4 metres.

While the petrol version is powered by a 1.2 litre engine, the diesel one has a 1.3 litre engine. An automatic transmission variant is also available in the petrol version.

MSI continues to produce the old DZire in some specific entry-level variants to target the fleet segment. The prices of the existing DZire ranges between Rs 4.94 lakh and Rs 7.29 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

In March, the company had increased the prices of its entire range of vehicles by up to Rs 17,000 following the hike in excise duty in the Budget for 2012-13.

Prior to this, MSI had raised the prices in January this year for its all vehicles, except for DZire, by 0.3-3.4 per cent due to rising input costs. This translated into a minimum increase of Rs 2,400 on the SX4 sedan and a maximum of Rs 17,000 on the diesel variant of its Swift hatchback.