Maruti Suzuki India has announced today that their Dzire compact sedan has achieved a new sales milestone. First launched back in 2008, the compact sedan based on Swift, has now crossed total sales of 19 lakh units.

This is not only a record for Maruti Suzuki, but also for Indian auto industry. No other sedan ever in the history before has managed to achieve 19 lakh sales mark in India.

Mr Shashank Srivastava, Executive Director (Marketing & Sales), Maruti Suzuki India Limited said: "The brand Dzire has been a major contributor to Maruti Suzuki's journey and we express our gratitude to customers. With the launch of Dzire, we created a new 'compact sedan' segment.

This segment is continuously evolving and growing. Over the years, Maruti Suzuki Dzire has led this growth and it continues to be relevant and attractive to customers. A testimony to its strong customer connect is that the sales of third generation Dzire went up by nearly 20%."

"We keep an ear to the ground to sense customers' demands and translate them into features in our cars. The hugely popular Auto Gear Shift (AGS) technology is available across six variants of the Dzire. Nearly 13% of buyers have chosen the automatic variant.

Interestingly, for half of the new Dzire customers, the compact sedan is their first car purchase. This shows a paradigm shift of the Indian customers who are ready to start their car ownership with a sedan," he added.

Maruti updated the Dzire sedan with a new gen variant, which has resulted in an increase in sales. Last fiscal, Dzire sales were at about 2.5 lakhs. Maruti Dzire is currently offered with a choice of petrol and diesel engines with manual as well as AMT option. Price ranges from Rs 5.7 lakhs to Rs 9.54 lakhs ex-sh.

Apart from updating the car, Maruti has also updated the dealerships, which has resulted in improved car buying experience. Maruti dealerships are now called Maruti Suzuki Arena.

The Arena outlets are a part of the company's Transformotion 2.0 initiative. The showrooms are well designed and are spacious, offering customers with a warm and friendly environment. The Arena showrooms are powered by technology and uses digital medium to connect with customers.