Passenger car major Maruti Udyog Ltd is planning a diesel engine manufacturing facility in the country, Jagdish Khattar, managing director of the company, said on Friday.

"We are seriously considering such a project," Khattar said, while responding to questions at a press conference in Chennai.

Khattar said that there was a slump in sales in the fourth quarter of this fiscal after the company registered over 25 per cent growth in sales till December last.

Khattar was in the city to inaugurate the company's Rs 12 crore (Rs 120 million) state of the art Maruti Service Masters service-cum-repair facility.

On questions about plans to bring out a Rs 100,000 car, he said that the possibility was being explored and added that various aspects like cost of material had to be looked into before going ahead with such a project.

The MSM facility in Chennai is Maruti's fourth in India and the first one in the South. MSM is a joint venture between Maruti and Sumitomo Corporation, Japan.