Price chop for Holden Barina range.

HOLDEN has chopped the price of its baby Barina range by up to $1000 in a bid to make a bigger dent on the light-car scene.

Reduced by $1000, the entry-level Barina CD manual is now available at $14,990 before on-road costs, making it cheaper than its key five-door rivals.

At the same time it has launched a new range-topping RS sports-focused variant to spark new interest from a younger audience priced at $20,990.

The Holden is being outsold this year by the Mazda2 (from $15,790), Hyundai i20 (from $16,590), Toyota Yaris ($15,690), Ford Fiesta (from $15,825) and Kia Rio (from $16,290), as well as the cheaper Mitsubishi Mirage (from $12,990).

Adding an automatic gearbox to the cheapest CD bumps the price by $2200, but the new price of $17,190 represents an $800 reduction on the previous cost.

Moving up to the next equipment level and the automatic-only CDX costs $19,690, again $800 cheaper than previous pricing.

At the top of the pack is the sporty and newly introduced Barina RS, which brings around eight-second zero to 100km/h performance and the looks to match for $20,990 or $23,190 if the auto transmission is optioned.

The new Holden Barina pricing comes in to effect on December 1.

2013 Holden Barina pricing*

CD	$14,990 (-$1000)
CD (a)	$17,190 (-$800)
CDX (a)	$19,690 (-$800)
RS	$20,990
RS (a)	$23,190

*Excludes on-road costs.