Monday, January 9 2006 17:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Faced with increasing input and freight costs, the country's biggest car maker Maruti Udyog Ltd today (Jan 9, 2006) hiked prices across all models between Rs 1,500 and Rs 15,000, the second time in the last three months.

The company, which last announced a hike October last year, said the rising oil prices were behind the increase in costs.

"The company had decided to pass on only a part of the impact of increase in freight costs and other input costs to the customers then (in Oct 2005) and had indicated that another price revision may be undertaken in early 2006," Maruti said.

As per the new prices, entry-level 'Maruti800' will be costlier by Rs 3,000 while the popular 'Alto' model will also be dearer by the same amount.

On the other hand, the company's latest offering 'Swift' will see a Rs 3,500 hike on the base model while the mid and top-end variants will be expensive by Rs 10,000.

Price increments on the 'Zen' and 'WagonR' model is Rs 5,000 while the highest impact will be on the prices on the SUV 'Grand Vitara' which will see the prices go by as much as Rs 15,000.

The mid-size 'Baleno' and 'Esteem' will be dearer by Rs 3,000 while the MPV 'Versa' will be expensive by Rs 12,000.

The 'Omni' van will be dearer by Rs 1,500 while its LPG variant will be expensive to upwards of Rs 3,000.