Hyundai, India’s second largest car maker, is going to increase the prices of its products by up to two percent. The hike will be effective from June 2008. Maruti Suzuki has already announced an increase in the ex-showroom prices of its product range from Rs 1,500 to Rs 18,000 and others are expected to follow.
Deviating from Maruti Suzuki's doing (giving out figures for each car), Hyundai has hiked the prices by up to two percent across the segment. The rising input costs towards manufacturing a car has been cited as the reason for this increase. Hyundai had registered a strong 66 percent growth in sales in March, but what the consequence of this price hike will be on the quarterly sales figures will be interesting to note.
Such price hikes by the automotive manufacturers also points at the government duties on various components and raw materials which ultimately raise the price of the end product and the consumer is who has to pay. We hope the government does something to reduce these duties.
