Maruti Udyog [Get Quote] on Tuesday launched a Euro-III variant and a new Euro-II version of Maruti 800, sporting a higher price tag, and said the entry level car was not being phased out.

The Euro-II version of new Maruti 800 has been priced at Rs 2,08,678 (ex-showroom, Delhi), an increase of Rs 3,000 over the earlier version.

The Euro-III variant of the car 800 has been priced at Rs 2,14,678 and its deluxe version at Rs 2,37,480.

"Just when there was a talk about Maruti 800 being phased out, this iconic brand has donned a fresh new look. The new-look Maruti 800 is the company's gift to millions of two-wheeler owners in the country looking to upgrade to a car," MUL Managing Director Jagdish Khattar said in a media release.

The launch of Euro-III variant follows enforcement of the new emission norms in 11 cities of the country from April 1, 2005.

This is for the first time after several months that Maruti has increased the price of its entry level car. In the previous price revisions, Maruti 800 was left untouched.

The new Maruti 800 (Euro-II), which will be rolled out across the country over the next 10 days, comes with clear headlamps with a headlight levelling mechanism, clear lens rear combination lamps and a new grille.

Khattar declined to give the sales targets for the new Maruti 800.

"As a company, we would not like to make projections for the future. Sales are a function of market demand, and also other factors like production capacity and product mix of each company," he said.

Early this month, Maruti had launched Euro-III variants of its three existing car models - Wagon R, Baleno and Zen with higher price tag. Khattar had then said all the 11 car models of MUL, including Maruti 800, would have Euro-III option from the next financial year.

Maruti 800 is one of the largest selling cars under Maruti stable. However, in the recent months, Alto has surpassed the sales of the small car raising speculation that Maruti would phase out M-800.