Maruti Suzuki, India's largest carmaker, on Wednesday
launched a new, shorter version of Swift DZire, which it hopes will replicate the
success of its predecessor. The new variants are priced between Rs 4.79 lakh and Rs 7.09 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).
The existing version of Swift DZire at priced in the range of Rs 4.94 lakh - Rs 7.29 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
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 will be powered by a 1.2 litre engine, the diesel one will have a 1.3 litre engine. An automatic transmission variant will also be available in the petrol version.
"The company and its vendors have invested over Rs 230 crore for the new DZire. The new model will be cheaper by Rs 25,000-Rs 30,000 than the older version," Maruti Suzuki India Managing Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) Mayank Pareek told reporters in New Delhi.
The company has priced the petrol variants of the new DZire between Rs 4.79 lakh and Rs 6.54 lakh, while the diesel ones will come for Rs 5.80 lakh-Rs 7.09 lakh.
The new sedan will be produced at the company's Manesar plant, looking to
recover lost ground after it was hit by a series of labour unrests last year.
Despite the new DZire coming with at least 150 new features, the company has decided to continue production of the old DZire in some specific variants, in order to target the fleet segment.
The current DZire has a
waiting period of 3-4 months and Maruti is looking to address the issue by gradually ramping up the output.
Since its launch in 2008, Maruti Suzuki has sold over 3.2 lakh units of DZire so far. The existing model did not enjoy the excise benefit on small cars as it is longer than four metres.
According to current government policy, cars below the length of 4 metres and engine capacity of 1,200 cc in petrol and 1,500 cc in diesel qualify as small cars.
Those bigger than the specifications come under the big car category and attract excise duty of 22 per cent with an additional fixed duty of Rs 15,000.
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