Baleno prices at launch in 1999 - finally found

Had been searching high and low for the prices at which the Baleno was initially
launched in India in 1999.

Thanks to the WorldWideWeb and Google, I finally came across this link http://www.domain-b.com/automotive/models/maruti/maruti_baleno.htm
which had the details I wanted.

City	Ex-Showroom	Registration & Service Charges (Individual)	Registration & Service Charges (Company)	Insurance	Total (Individual)	Total (Company)
Calcutta	760,998	5,815	6,715	24,578	791,391	792,291
Chennai	768,976	19,600	36,200	18,207	806,783	823,383
Delhi	749,802	4,465	4,465	24,330	778,597	778,597
Hyderabad	802,093	56,150	56,150	18,955	877,198	877,198
Mumbai	832,010	39,400	106,400	31,750	903,160	970,160

Hmmm. The Baleno (there was only one variant back then - no Lxi or Vxi) cost 8 lakhs back then, in Chennai.
Compare this with my Lxi, which cost me only 5.8 lakhs. And the Vxi was 6.5 lakhs when I bought my car.

No wonder the Baleno did not really take off at that time. For a guy putting down 8lakhs, it would have made
better sense to go the Lancer or Honda City way, by paying a few thousands more.

Now that Maruti is mulling release of the new Baleno, let's see how they do the pricing this time around.