Cars to get expensive by Jan 2014

After an average festive season, carmakers are now offering year-end discounts to lure buyers. If the year-end discounts are not attractive enough to buy your favorite car then think once again. As all the major carmakers are going to hike car prices from January, 2014. So far, Maruti Suzuki, Honda, Hyundai, Tata Motors, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi have announced hikes.

Maruti Suzuki is the biggest car maker in India and sells a range of vehicles, from M800 to Grand Vitara, priced between Rs 2.13 lakh and to Rs 24.6 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). MSI had earlier announced that it would increase prices of their entire range of models by up to Rs 10,000 from October first week, mainly due to depreciation of the rupee. But now the decision has come through that they would infact be increasing their prices from January, 2014. Announcing the hike, Mayank Pareek, COO (Marketing and Sales), Maruti Suzuki India commented, "Maruti Suzuki will increase prices from January 2014 as input costs have been going up, and we cannot continue to absorb all of it. We will pass on some part of it to the customers."

The second largest passenger car maker - Hyundai Motor India is also going to take a similar step from next month to offset rising input costs. Hyundai has a big line-up ranging from Eon to Sonata priced between Rs 2.89 lakh and Rs 26.69 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The price hike will be across the entire product portfolio. "We will be increasing the prices from January due to the rising input costs and current market conditions," HMIL Senior Vice President and Division head (Marketing & Sales) Rakesh Srivastava said.

Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) is also going to hike prices of its entire product range in the country from the first week of January as it aims to partially offset the effects of adverse exchange rate and inflation. "We are looking to hike prices from the beginning of January. The price hike will be across our entire model range comprising Amaze, Brio, CR-V and Accord," HCIL Senior Vice-President Jnaneshwar Sen said.

All three brands haven't announced the quantum of the price hike and stated that they are still working on the details. However, the home grown brand - Tata Motors has recently announced to hike its prices by 1%. "While there is to be about 1 per cent hike in our passenger vehicles pricing, the commercial vehicles business continues to review the situation and will take a call subsequently," a Tata Motors spokesperson told news agency PTI.

Apart from these manufacturers, premium car manufacturers have also announced hikes for their respective portfolios. German luxury car maker - Mercedes Benz announced that it will hike prices of its products across models by up to 10 per cent in India from next month. Its rivals BMW and Audi have already said that they would hike prices from January onwards owing to pressure on their business due to economic factors.

All the manufacturers have their own reasons to hike the price but the unstable economy, adverse exchange rate and high input cost are the prime reasons behind these price hikes. However, most of the manufacturers haven't announced the quantum of the hike and one would have to wait to know that exactly how much your favorite car is going to cost you next year.