Maruti, Hyundai to hike car prices from January

New Delhi: Cars will become costlier from January with major manufacturers Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai stating that they will hike prices from next month, joining the likes of Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Honda.

Read here: Mercedes to hike prices in January

"Maruti Suzuki will increase prices from January 2014 as input costs have been going up and we cannot continue to absorb all of it. We will pass on some part of it to the customers," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) COO (Marketing and Sales) Mayank Pareek told reporters.

MSI sells a range of vehicles, from M800 to Grand Vitara, priced between Rs 2.13 lakh and to Rs 24.6 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

The company had earlier announced that it would increase prices of the entire range of models by up to Rs 10,000 from October first week, mainly due to depreciation of the rupee.

Hyundai Motor India also said it is looking to take a similar step from next month to offset rising input costs.

"We will be increasing the prices from January due to the rising input costs and current market conditions," HMIL Senior Vice President and Division head (Marketing & Sales) Rakesh Srivastava said.

The price hike will be across the entire product portfolio, he added.

Hyundai markets car models priced between Rs 2.89 lakh and Rs 26.69 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

Earlier in the day, German luxury car maker Mercedes Benz also announced that it will hike prices of its products across models by up to 10 per cent in India from next month.

While the company did not specify the reason for the price increase, its rivals BMW and Audi have already said they would hike prices from January onwards owing to pressure on their business due to economic factors.

Mercedes Benz sells a range of luxury cars and sports utility vehicles in India, including compact cars A Class and B class, sedans C Class, E Class and S Class and sports car SLS AMG, priced between Rs 22 lakh and Rs 3 crore.

Earlier this week, Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) said it also planned to hike prices of its entire product range from the first week of January to partially offset impact of adverse exchange rate and inflation.