Cars to be expensive from next month

Zee Media Bureau

Amid rising costs and weakening of rupee against US dollar, India's leading car manufacturers such as Maruti, Hyundai, Toyota have announced a hike in prices of their vehicles by up to 3 percent from January 2016.

Maruti Suzuki India: India's leading car manufacturer announced Thursday that it will hike the prices of its vehicles across all models by up to Rs 20,000, the lowest among all the hikes in the upper end. Currently, MSI sells a range of vehicles starting from the entry level small car Alto 800 to the S-Cross with price ranging between Rs 2.53 lakh and Rs 13.74 lakh (all prices ex-showroom Delhi).

Hyundai Motors: The South Korean company announced a hike in the price of its vehicles by up to Rs 30,000 on Wednesday citing challenging market conditions.India`s second-largest carmaker by sales and the country`s largest exporter, Hyundai said it was “constrained to consider the price increase on account of factors like increase in cost of components, weak rupee etc”.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor: In one of the steepest hikes, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said it was hiking the price of its vehicles across all models by up to 3 percent or Rs Rs 3.8 lakh from January. However, with the price of Toyota vehicles starting from Rs 5 lakh onwards, the minimum hike would be Rs 10,000, which is 2 percent, the minimum percentage hike by the company.

Mercedes-Benz India: The luxury car maker announced that it would hike the prices of its vehicles across all models by up to 2 percent from January 2016. The German carmaker sells a range of 24 models in India, starting with the A-Class, priced at Rs 27.5 lakh, going up to Rs 2.7 crore for the S63 AMG coupe (all prices ex-showroom, Delhi). This means that the minimum hike will be Rs 55,000 while the maximum hike will be Rs 5.4 lakh.

BMW India: The German luxury car maker was the first to announced hike in the prices of vehicles from January 2016 by up to 2 percent. And with the price of their cars ranging from Rs 28.5 lakh to Rs 2.29 crore, it means the minimum hike would be Rs 57,000 while the maximum hike would be Rs 4.58 lakh.

GM India: Leading global car maker General Motors is also hiking the prices of its vehicles in India by up to 2 percent. GM India, which sells a range of locally produced vehicles starting from the entry level small car Beat to the sedan Cruze with prices ranging between Rs 4.2 lakh and Rs 16.85 lakh (all prices ex-showroom Delhi), is hiking the prices by up to Rs 33,700 from January.

Renault, Nissan, Skoda and Audi: Though no official announcements have been made, it is very likely that these car makers are also expected to hike the prices of their vehicles by up to 3 percent in order to meet the rising cost.