Hyundai to raise prices from September, Toyota in October

NEW DELHI: Come September, South Korean auto maker Hyundai will increase car prices in India by around 1.2% due to rising input costs, said a senior company official. While the price of its popular small cars—Santro and i10—would go up Rs 3,500 for the entry-level variants, Sonata would become dearer by Rs 10,000.

“We have tried to absorb as much of the cost as we can, but there has been consistent increase in the commodity prices that forced us to pass some of it to the customers," Hyundai Motor India's director (Marketing & Sales), Arvind Saxena, said.

Hyundai price hike comes after Maruti raised prices by around 1.5% from August 1. It had hiked the price of all its models by up to Rs 7,500, except its entry-level product Alto. Auto makers had been grappling with rising commodity prices like steel and rubber, which had been firming up in the domestic market.

Japanese carmaker Toyota Kirloskar Motors also announced price revision of its products across categories from October this year. The company currently sells premium sedan 'Corolla Altis', SUV 'Fortuner' and utility vehicle 'Innova' in India, which are manufactured at its facility in Bangalore. It also imports luxury sedan 'Camry' and premium SUV 'Prado'.

“Input cost pressure is very high and the fluctuation in Yen is also affecting us. We will review the prices of our products in October," Toyota Kirloskar Motors deputy MD (marketing) Sandeep Singh said. He, however, declined to say by how much more the cars will cost after the proposed hike. Other carmakers have not ruled out price hike though no specific announcements were made.