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Mr Jagdish Khattar, MD, Maruti Udyog Ltd, at the launch of the new Zen in the Capital on Thursday. - - Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi , Nov. 27

MARUTI Udyog Ltd, on Thursdayrolled out a new-look Zen without changing the prices, giving the car a make-over ten years after it was launched.

The new Zen has the same engine that powered the previous versions, but sports a new grille, fenders, bonnet, multi-reflector headlamps and front and rear fog lamps. The hatch door and tail lamps have also been redesigned.

Maruti has also spruced up the interiors of the Zen by adding a new gearshift lever, a central console and rear head-rest. The base version, Zen LX, is priced at Rs 3.32 lakh while the Zen LXi carries a price of Rs 3.59 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The top-end model is priced at Rs 3.90 lakh. The two diesel versions come at Rs 3.58 lakh and Rs 3.82 lakh each. All versions now come with body coloured bumpers.

Sales of the Zen, now hovering around 5,000 units per month, would grow by 10 per cent with the launch of the new version, said Mr Jagdish Khattar, Maruti Udyog's Managing Director.

He said the new Zen was completely designed by Maruti's research and development team and this marked the beginning of Maruti becoming the R&D hub of parent Suzuki Motor Corporation for Asia, except Japan.

``The Zen is a key weapon in our arsenal and it still has a segment share of 45 per cent. We decided to give it this new look as we felt the car's styling needed a make over,'' Mr Khattar said.

Maruti took two years and Rs 35-40 crore for giving a facelift to Zen, one of its best selling cars. The first `B' segment (premium compact car) in the country, the Zen today faces stiff competition from Hyundai Santro and Tata Indica.

Mr Khattar also revealed that Maruti's R&D team was developing an altogether new car, in a ``segment where we feel volumes will grow." He declined to give more details.

He also stated that Maruti would like to limit the number of vehicle platforms to 3-4 as the company would come out with new models in the future. Currently, it has eight platforms.

``The phasing out transition will take a few years,'' Mr Khattar said.

Vehicle prices may be hiked

MARUTI will review the prices of its vehicles next month and may effect a hike in January 2004 as input costs are on the rise, company officials said. "We will review the prices in December," Mr Khattar said.

Prices of steel and tyres have been going up, necessitating a re-look at the existing prices. The appreciation of yen against the dollar is another reason for costs to go up. Despite high level of localisation, Maruti vehicles still have some import components.

Maruti recently launched a new version of Wagon R but did not hike any prices. The new Zen also comes at existing prices.

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