Maruti Suzuki hikes prices yet again; Hyundai and others to follow

India's largest carmaker - Maruti Suzuki has yet again hiked the prices (since its last hike in October'08) of its cars by Rs 5,000-10,000 with effect from January 28, attributing it to higher input prices and foreign currency movement, which affects prices of imported components.

While prices of all variants of SX4 sedan has been hiked by Rs 9,000, the price of Swift Petrol LXi has now been revised upwards by Rs 5,000. For the higher variants of Swift ie VXi and top end ZXi and all variants of its diesel version, the prices are now up by Rs 6,000. The new prices for Swift DZire (all variants in petrol and diesel) are hiked by Rs 7,000. Even the latest offering from Maruti's stable-the A-Star has not been spared. Maruti has hiked its price too by Rs.10,000!

List of cars and the corresponding hike

• Maruti Swift (LXi Petrol) - Rs.5,000
• Maruti Swift (VXi,ZXi Petrol & Diesel) - Rs.6,000
• Maruti Swift DZire - Rs.7,000
• Maruti SX4 - Rs.9,000
• Maruti A-Star - Rs.10,000

No price hike on lower price range models

Maruti has not hiked the prices of its low end models like the Maruti 800, Omni, Alto, WagonR, Zen Estilo, Gypsy and Versa.
Maruti Suzuki spokesperson-

The price increase has been necessitated due to the increase in input costs like steel and foreign currency changes. There has been regular fluctuations in currency, which has forced us to go for this increase

Hyundai and other carmakers to follow suit

Its not only Maruti Suzuki which has the price hike idea, other carmakers like  Honda Siel Cars India and Ford Motor India are also likely to raise prices. Hyundai is expected to announce 2% markups on its entire range next week. The company spokesman said that would work out to about Rs.5,000 on Santro and up to Rs. 25,000 on Sonata.