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

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 ₹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 ₹8,000 and ₹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 ₹4.79 lakh and ₹7.09 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

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

The new model is available in both petrol and diesel options and it qualifies for the excise duty of 10 % 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 ₹4.94 lakh and ₹7.29 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

In March, the company had increased the prices of its entire range of vehicles by up to ₹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 % due to rising input costs. This translated into a minimum increase of ₹2,400 on the SX4 sedan and a maximum of ₹17,000 on the diesel variant of its Swift hatchback.

The shares of MSI is trading 0.47 % down at ₹1,308.55 apiece on the BSE during late afternoon.