Planning a car this New Year? Prepare to burn a hole in your pocket as car prices may be hiked by Rs 1 lakh

India’s largest selling car manufacturers Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai are expected to increase the price of their cars by Rs 2,500 to Rs 1 lakh in early 2017. The reasons for such step include higher raw material cost, steep discounts in last few months and of course a weak rupee that made import expensive.

While Maruti and Hyundai are the first ones to take such stern decision, other automakers may follow and the same in a few month’s time.
Giving discounts during Diwali and year end and then increasing car prices in January have become a trend for most of the car makers in India. However this is the first time that Maruti, that sells one car for every two cars sold, is the first to take such step.

“The company tries to absorb the commodity pressure, but multiple factors including higher discounts and the rupee's depreciation this time will compel it to increase prices,” RS Kalsi, Maruti's executive director of sales and marketing told The Economic Times.
"We are planning to pass on from January maximum up to 2 per cent, and our pricing team is calculating how much each model's price will go up," said Kalsi. This is the second time that Maruti is increasing its fare in six months.

Carmakers such as Toyota, Honda, Renault, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors have already announced price hikes of up to 3 per cent in January. Interestingly, discounts in the market at present are higher at 5-10 %, which at least some of the carmakers will have to keep offering in the New Year.

"Hyundai brands will have a price increase in January on account of the increase in raw material costs and the rupee depreciation. The increase will be across models in a bandwidth of Rs 4,000 to Rs 1 lakh, Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Hyundai India, told the Economic Times.