The Hindu Business Line : Maruti hikes prices, spares Swift

MARUTI Udyog Ltd (MUL), the country's largest carmaker, today announced a price hike ranging from 0.2 per cent to 1 per cent across all its models, except the newly launched `Swift' hatchback.

The company, owned 54.2 per cent by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corporation, has cited an increase in freight costs as the reason for the hike. MUL also said that another price revision could be announced by the end of the year.

"The price hike is due to increase in freight costs, which went up following the rise in oil prices. We have decided to pass on only a part of the impact and other input costs to the customers," a company statement said here.

The ex-showroom price of Maruti 800 Standard model would now be Rs 2,00,850, a 0.8 per cent increase over the existing price tag of Rs 1,99,350. The Maruti 800 AC model would cost Rs 2,23,754 after the price revision.

The Alto LX is now priced at Rs 2,79,408, a hike of around Rs 1,500 while the Alto LXi would cost Rs 2,99,317 after the revision.

The company has increased the prices of Wagon R by 0.7 per cent, translating into a hike of Rs 2,400. The Wagon R's LX variant now has a price tag of Rs 3,39,582 while its LXi variant would cost Rs 3,66,892.

The mid-sized Baleno LXi is now priced at Rs 5,80,173, an increase of Rs 1,100 while the Zen LX and LXi would cost Rs 3,44,796 and Rs 3,71,619 respectively after the revision.

September sales up: The company also reported a 12.1 per cent rise in sales in September at 49,278 units against 43,949 units in the same month last year.

Domestic sales grew 15 per cent to 46,393 units in September, from 40,322 units in the same month last year.

During the month, the company saw a 34.5 per cent growth in the A2 segment — where it sells models such as Zen, Wagon R, Alto and Swift.

Dip continues for `M800': The decline in the sales of the `M800' model, however, continued with sales dropping 23.7 per cent to 7,423 units from 9730 units in September 2004.

MUL's exports in September were also down 20.5 per cent to 2,885 units, from 3,627 units in the same month last year.

The MUL stock went up Rs 10.35 over today's opening price on the BSE to close at Rs 578.35 per share.

The 52-week high for the stock was Rs 598.10 while the 52-week low was Rs 338.10.

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