Maruti Suzuki is introducing limited editions of its entry-level hatchbacks Alto K-10, S-Presso and Celerio at ₹4.99 lakh in June to rejuvenate the segment.

Hatches sales in May at 78,108 units were less compared with May 2023, when sales were 83,655 units.

The Alto and S-Presso reported sales of 9,902 units in May compared with 12,236 units a year ago.

The compact segment comprising the Baleno, Celerio, Ignis, DZire, Swift and Wagon R sold 68,206 units compared with 71,419 units last year.

The company reported a 2 per cent dip in total wholesales at 1.74 lakh units in May. It had dispatched 1.78 lakh units to its dealers in the same month last year.

Maruti marketing and sales chief Partha Banerjee said: "We are offering a new variant of Alto K10, S-Presso and Celerio at a price point of ₹4.99 lakh that will include all the conveniences and features that our customers are looking for in their car."

"The existing variants of the models will continue to sell. The bookings of this limited edition is on for this month. This is our initiative to breathe life into the hatch segment."

The price was set at ₹4.99 lakh because the registration charges in some states increase as prices go beyond ₹5 lakh.

The company is also bringing down the price of automatic transmissions of its entry level hatches by ₹5,000.

"We observed that the penetration of automatic transmission in the Nexa channel was 20 per cent whereas in the Arena channel it was 10 per cent. So we thought of rationalising the prices of our vehicles with automatic transmissions," Banerjee said.

The company which launched the new Swift in the market in May has received 40,000 bookings. It has sold 19,393 units of the new Swift in the month.

Meanwhile, Maruti on Friday inked a pact with DBS Bank India for dealer inventory funding.