Maruti Dzire diesel AMT launched at Rs. 8.39 lakh

Maruti's best-selling compact sedan - the Dzire, is now available with a diesel + automated manual transmission (AMT) combination.

Dubbed as the Auto Gear Shift (AGS) technology by Maruti, this unit will be available only in the top-end ZDi variant of the Dzire and is priced at Rs. 8.39 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). It is priced at a premium of Rs. 49,000 over the ZDi manual transmission variant. This is the fourth car in Maruti's range to get an AMT, after the Celerio, Alto K10 and Wagon R.

The ZDi variant is equipped with features such as dual front airbags, ABS + EBD, reverse parking sensors, an engine start / stop button, automatic climate control, electrically foldable ORVMs and 15" alloy wheels.

The Dzire AGS is powered by the same 1,248cc, 4-cylinder diesel engine (74 BHP / 190 Nm) as the manual variant and has an ARAI fuel efficiency rating of 26.59 km/l, which is the same figure as the manual transmission's. It is available in 7 colours - Pearl Arctic White, Silky Silver, Cave Black, Pacific Blue, Magma Grey, Alp Blue and Sangria Red.

The Tata Zest was the first diesel compact sedan to be offered with an AMT, but it hasn't really been able to set the sales charts on fire. While all other competitors (excluding Zest) in this segment are offered with a petrol AT, the Dzire is the only one to be available with both, petrol AT as well as diesel AMT.