Maruti Suzuki enters India’s premium sedan segment

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. introduced its first premium sedan, Kizashi, entering one of the smallest but fastest-growing segments in this expanding auto market as it attempts to shed its image of a small-car maker. Maruti, which produces eight small-car models including the Alto and Swift, sells more than half the cars sold in Asia’s third-biggest auto market, but its presence in the sedan segment is restricted to the Swift Dzire and the bigger SX4. The Kizashi is Maruti’s first step in transforming its image by offering products across all automobile segments. The manual transmission model will cost INR1.65 million (US$36,346.72) at showrooms in New Delhi while the automatic version has been priced at INR1.75 million (US$38,548.42). (February 2, 2011)