Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday said its compact car Alto has crossed 30 lakh unit sales mark in the domestic market, thus becoming the only brand in India to achieve this feat.

The model, which is the country’s top selling brand for over 10 years in a row, took 15 years and six months to break 30 lakh sales mark. “Since its launch, Alto has found favour with customers as an affordable car with good design, performance and high fuel efficiency. Customers have valued Alto as a win-win package of style and affordability,” Maruti said.

Mercedes price hike to be Rs 5 lakh Mercedes-Benz India on Wednesday said that it will hike prices of its vehicles by up to Rs 5 lakh from March 15 in order to offset the impact of infrastructure cess and luxury tax proposed in the Union Budget 2016-17.

The price increase would be between three per cent and five per cent depending on the model, leading to a price hike between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 5 lakh. In India, the carmaker sells models ranging from A Class to Maybach, priced between Rs 28 lakh and Rs 1.67 crore (ex-showroom price).

Elaborating on the need to go in for price hike, the company said: “The imposition of an infrastructural cess as well as an additional luxury tax announced in the Union Budget 2016, has negatively impacted the prices of the Mercedes-Benz model range.”