Maruti hikes prices by up to Rs 18,000

Reeling under increasing input costs, especially steel, the country’s biggest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd(MSI), the country’s top car maker, has hiked prices of its products across various models between Rs 1,000 and Rs 18,000. The company has hiked the price of its latest model Swift Dzire by Rs 18,000. It had launched the sedan with an introductory price ranging Rs 4.49 lakh and Rs 6 lakh across different variants.

It has also hiked the prices of all petrol variants of the hatchback Swift by Rs 9,000 along with SX4, Gypsy, while the diesel version of the Swift has become costlier by Rs 15,000. MSI has also increased the price of all variants of the Zen Estilo and WagonR LPG by Rs 1,000 while the Alto and M800 have become costlier by Rs 1,500.

Prices of all variants of the Omni and WagonR Petrol have also been hiked by Rs 2,000 and that of multi-utility vehicle Versa by Rs 8,000. The company has, however, spared its SUV Grand Vitara from the price hikes.

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Maruti managing director Shinzo Nakanishi had said in April that the company was negotiating with steel companies on new contracts, for which it faced up to a 40 per cent price increase. The company had cut prices of some models in end-February after the government reduced excise duty on small cars to 12 per cent from 16 per cent.

Top utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra last week raised prices by up to 2.5 per cent, also citing input costs.