Country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) today launched mid-sized sedan Ciaz with an introductory price starting at Rs 6.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The petrol variants of the sedan are priced between Rs 6.99 lakh and Rs 9.34 lakh while the diesel variants are priced between Rs 8.04 lakh and Rs 9.8 lakh, respectively (ex-showroom Delhi).

MUMBAI: Maruti Suzuki may have more diesel options from its own portfolio of engines to power its vehicles, as parent Suzuki Motor is in an advanced stage of developing a new 1.5-litre four-cylinder power plant targeting the Indian market.

Suzuki has already developed an 800-cc diesel engine and Maruti is expected to start using it soon. That engine is built on a modular platform, so multiple derivatives of it are expected. After the 800-cc engine, it is working on two derivatives of a four-cylinder engine, a 1.6-litre variant for Europe and a 1.5-litre one for India.

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Tuesday announced recall of 69,555 units of the Dzire, Swift and Ritz models manufactured between March 2010 and August 2013 to repair wiring harness fitment.

The recall is only for diesel variants of the three models. Of the total, 55,938 units are of the old Dzire, 12,486 units of the old Swift and 1,131 units of the Ritz, which were manufactured between March 8, 2010 and August 11, 2013, the company said.

Markets edged lower in morning trades as selling in index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and L&T weighed on the indices. At 1040 hrs, the Sensex was down 70 points at 27,137 and the Nifty was down 22 points to trade at 8,124.

The broader markets too gave up all of its early gains and were in red with the midcap index down 0.2% and the smallcap index down 0.04%.

Mayank Pareek, the chief operating officer (marketing and sales) of Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), has put in papers after nearly 20 years of service to pursue 'better opportunities', say sources familiar with the development.

Industry sources said he was likely to join Tata Motors, which had been seeking a revival in fortunes in the passenger cars segment.

Pune-based IT professional Anurag Mohan's decision to buy the diesel Maruti Suzuki Swift on advice of friends and family may not give him the advantage he is looking for.

The narrowing gap between petrol and diesel prices and the 20-25 per cent premium charged over petrol variants are making diesel car models unviable.

Buoyed by improved sentiment in domestic automobile market, Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest car maker, has scaled up its projection for growth in cars sales this financial year.

"We will surely have a double-digit growth rate this year. We had not expected more than seven or eight per cent growth till the general elections, but our sales have grown at an average 16 per cent in the past five months. I will, however, not like to predict whether the rate for full year will be 12 per cent or 16 per cent," chairman R C Bhargava told Business Standard.

Japan's small car major Suzuki Motor Corporation has clocked four million milestone in total global sales of its successful premium hatchback Swift with about half of them coming from India.

According to information available on the company's website, Swift, which was launched as a world strategic model in 2004, reached cumulative worldwide sales of four million units in August 2014 -- nine years and nine months since the start of sales in 2004.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) Chairman R C Bhargava said the company will start work on its Gujarat project before the end of this year.

“Some work is on. We are waiting for minority-shareholder approvals.” He was in Gandhinagar on Friday with parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) Chairman Osamu Suzuki, who met new Chief Minister (CM) Anandiben Patel.

In a sweetener to minority shareholders and mutual funds, Maruti Suzuki on Thursday announced at its annual general meeting that it would pay royalty for all new models in rupees, instead of yen.

The move is meant to address a concern raised by mutual funds and minority shareholders, who had questioned royalty payments the Indian company made every year to its Japanese parent, Suzuki Motor.

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