Buying a car? Pay more this year

Due to rising input costs, Tata Motors on Saturday raised prices of its passenger and commercial vehicles by Rs 3,000-30,000 with immediate effect.

While the company raised prices of passenger cars by Rs 3,000-15,000, the hike ranged Rs 1,500-30,000 for commercial vehicles, the company said in a statement.

The flagship Indica and Indigo range will be dearer by Rs 3,000-15,000, depending on the model. In utility vehicles, Tata Sumo, Grande MK-II, Safari and Xenon will cost Rs 8,700-14,500 more.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), too, announced it would raise prices across products this month.

Rajesh Jejurikar, chief executive, automotive division, M&M, said: "The month of December has been one of the exceptional performances for us, having achieved growth of 42 per cent. Our passenger vehicles segment has shown impressive growth of 28 per cent. All our brands have done very well. Going ahead, we are looking at a price hike across levels this month, the exact quantum of which will be announced soon."

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), the country's largest car manufacturer, along with Hyundai Motor India Limited and General Motors, have indicated they would mull price rises due to increasing inputs costs.

R C Bhargava, chairman, MSIL, said: "A final decision in this regard has not been taken, but we may look at raising prices going ahead."

Meanwhile, Hyundai has said it will raise prices by 1.5-2 per cent with effect from January. Arvind Saxena, director (marketing and sales), HMIL, had said earlier, "We have been absorbing the increase in input costs, but now, we have decided to pass it marginally to customers. From January, there will be a 1.5-2 per cent increase in prices."

General Motors had indicated early last month it would raise prices of its products by 1.5-2.5 per cent from January, while Volkswagen has increased the price of its small car, Polo, by over 2.9 per cent with effect from this month.