Hyundai to hike prices by up to Rs 20,000 from January

Hyundai Motor India Ltd will increase prices of its products across all models by up to Rs 20,000 from January to offset pressure of input costs on account of rupee depreciation and inflationary trends.

The quantum of price increase will vary from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 across all models, the company said in a statement.

HMIL sells a range of car models, including popular Santro, i10, sedans Verna and Sonata, in India priced between Rs 289,000 and Rs 26.69 lakh or Rs 2.66 million (ex-showroom Delhi).

Commenting on the price hike, HMIL senior vice president (sales and marketing) Rakesh Srivastava said: "In these adverse market conditions there is continuous increase in input costs on account of rupee depreciation and inflationary trends. This has made the price increase inevitable."

He said the company has been absorbing most of the costs but it is now compelled to consider the price increase.

The price increase across all the models would come into effect in January 2014, the company added.

Already other automobile manufacturers such as Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Honda have announced that they would increase prices of their products from next month citing similar reasons.

Image: Models pose with Hyundai Motor's new Genesis sedan during a photo session at a hotel in Seoul, November 26, 2013. Photographs: Kim Hong-ji/Reuters