New Delhi, Dec. 6: If you are planning to buy a car next month, prepare to pay more. This is because major auto-makers such as Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India on Monday have decided to effect a price hike across all product lines from January 2011 due to an input cost pressure.
The two companies’ move comes a day after another leading manufacturer, General Motors India, said it will hike prices by up to 2.5 per cent from January.
“We have been absorbing an increase in input costs, but now we have decided to pass it marginally on to the customers. From January onwards, there will be an increase in the prices of all our vehicles by 1.5-2 per cent,” Hyundai Motor India Ltd director sales and marketing, Mr Arvind Saxena, said. Similarly, the country’s largest car-maker, Maruti Suzuki India, said it will also hike vehicle prices soon to offset the rising input costs and the impact of the strengthening yen.
“In the past few months, the input costs have increased significantly. We have been absorbing so far through internal efficiency measure, but now we have to pass it on to the consumers,”
When asked by how much and when the prices would be increased, he said: “We are currently working out on a plan, but it is certain that we have to raise prices and by January,” Maruti Suzuki India managing executive officer (marketing and sales), Mr Mayank Pareek, said.
On the the yen versus dollar equation, which continues to get adverse, there seems to be no softening in the near future, he added.
Over the past few weeks, the yen has risen sharply against the weak dollar and was hovering just above the 80 yen per dollar mark.
Other players such as Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra have not commented on their plans to hike prices in the near future, like Maruti Suzuki, General Motors and Hyundai.