Maruti hikes prices of 800, Zen, Esteem

agencyfaqs! News Bureau

NEW DELHI, October 11

Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) has finally done it. After much speculation, the company increased the prices of almost all its brands - including the Maruti 800, the Baleno, the Zen, the Esteem and the Omni on Tuesday. Maruti had in July dropped prices of the 800, Omni and WagonR for a limited period of three months terming it a step to kick-start a sagging market.

MUL managing director Jagdish Khattar confirmed the move saying that only "a marginal price hike" has been effected on most of the models. "We have just passed a small part of the increased costs to the customer," he said.

The company effected a Rs 3,500 - Rs 4,500 increase in prices of all the variants of its bread-and-butter car Maruti 800 while the price tags of WagonR, Gypsy and Alto were left untouched. MUL has increased the price of Maruti 800 standard by Rs 3,500 to Rs 215,000, while the price tag of the M-800 EX and DX versions have been raised by Rs 4,500 to Rs 246,000 and Rs 264,000 (ex-showroom Delhi), respectively.

The price tag of the company's top-of-the-line luxury car Baleno witnessed the biggest increase of Rs 22,000 (to stand at Rs 749,000), followed by Zen-Diesel, whose prices were raised by Rs 10,000, Maruti dealers said.

The price of Zen LX version has been hiked by Rs 3,500 to Rs 343,000, while the Zen-Diesel is now priced at Rs 393,000. The prices of Zen VX, VXI, AT and Classic have been left untouched.

The price of the Omni five-seater has been raised by Rs 2,150 and that of the eight-seater by Rs 2,060. MUL's entry-level mid-sizer Esteem LX has been upped by Rs 3,000 and currently stands at Rs 502,000.

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