Hyundai Motor India late in the month has announced a price hike of up to Rs 30,000 on all its models on sale in India with effect from January 2019. As the long list of other automotive manufacturers that have also announced a hike in prices, Hyundai too has cited rising input costs, although these year-end price hikes have become a practice in the industry to allow for price revision. Following the announcement, Hyundai joins Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Ford, Honda, Renault, Nissan, Toyota and BMW have also made price hike announcements citing similar reasons.
In recent months, the rising cost of automotive commodities like steel, aluminium, and rising costs of logistics have cumulatively put an economic burden on manufacturers that they try to offset at year end by passing it onto customers incrementally. Factors like the falling value of the rupee and increase in fuel prices can also be attributed to the rise in prices. Rising logistics costs can also be attributed to an increase in floor prices of vehicles. Before the end of the year, you can expect more auto manufacturers to join the list since the rising costs affect everyone across the spectrum.
Hyundai India was in the public eye almost entirely through the year after launching the Hyundai i20 facelift at the 2018 Auto Expo, followed by the launch of the 2018 Hyundai Santro by October this year at a starting price of Rs 3.9 lakh. Although Hyundai had said that this price would only be applicable for the first 50,000 customers. At present Hyundai sells the Eon, Santro, Grand i10, Elite i20, Xcent, Verna, Elantra, Creta and Tuscon in the Indian Market but may soon introduce an electric car, and the new Santa Fe and next-generation Elantra in India in 2019.
