New Delhi, Mar 26: Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) today launched the 'Swift Dzire' sedan in petrol and diesel engines, priced at Rs 4.49 lakh and Rs 5.39 lakh (ex showroom Delhi) respectively.

The upper-end petrol version will cost Rs 5.9 lakh and diesel Rs 6.7 lakh. However, MSIL Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi said the price is an introductory price and will be revised in a few weeks time.

''The Dzire is seventh model which Maruti Suzuki has launched in last three years. It has a special place in our product startegy.

Million of Indians own compact cars. With growing income and better lifestyle, many of them want to operate a sedan. The Dzire offers all this at an attractive price,'' Mr Nakanishi said at the launch.

A Technopak survey showed 1.6 million people in the country to have a disposable income of more than Rs four lakhs, which is expected to be the customer base for this entry level A3 segment car.

The company, which grew by more than 14 per cent during the April-February period this fiscal, is outpacing the industry growth and expects launches to form a key part of growth story.

The government had cut excise of small cars in the Budget 2008-09 from 16 to 12 per cent and there was an immediate reduction in prices of small cars. However, many in the industry say it is too early to talk about the benefits of the excise rate cut.

''The full benefit of an excise duty cut is yet to be seen since it takes four-five months for the price discovery. Scheme incentives are good, but last year sales were driven by new models,'' said company Chief Executive Officer (Sales and Marketing) Mayank Parekh.

To cater to the demand, the company will increase its capacity in the Manesar plant near Gurgaon from the current 1, 40,000 units to 1,80,000 by next month and 3,00,000 units by October.

The Dzire project, which started in 2005, is a brand progression of the Swift hatchback.

The Dzire will have the diesel engine being the same as current engine in the Swift hatchback, the 1.3 litre multi-jet engine of Fiat.

Eleven engineers from Suzuki worked on the programme of the car that boasts of 60 mm more width in the backseat as compared to the Swift hatch along with the 30 kg increase in weight.

The design of the car was done for as low as Rs 30 crore since the platform for the vehicle was about same as the existing Swift hatch.

The diesel engine of Fiat on the hatch has been carried forward for the sedan and the petrol engine is the same as the one in Esteem with minor modification.

The petrol version of Dzire comes with a 1.3 litre, 16 valve, ALTec 32 engine, with a maximum 87 bhp at 6000 rpm. The diesel version comes with a 1.3 litre DDiS engine offering a torque of 190 Nm at 2000 rpm.