Renault India to hike vehicle prices by up to 2.5% from 1 January

Car maker Renault India has plans to hike prices of its entire range of vehicles by up to 2.5 per cent from next month to partly offset the impact of rising input costs.

The increase would be effective from 1 January 2015, the company said in a statement.

According to Renault India vice president, sales and marketing, Rafael Treguer, the company had so far absorbed the rising input costs, but a sustained challenging market environment had compelled the company to increase its prices.

The auto industry was eagerly looking forward to pro-business policies to reignite the automobile industry in India, he pointed out.

The company, a fully-owned subsidiary of France's Renault SAS, sells five models - Pulse, Scala, Duster, Fluence and Koleos, priced between Rs4.46 lakh and Rs25.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

Nissan India had last week announced that it would increase prices of its entire range, including Datsun vehicles, by up to Rs18,000 from next month.

Earlier this month, Maruti Suzuki India had announced increase in price of its models in the range of 2-4 per cent from next month to partially offset the impact of increasing input costs.

Rival Hyundai Motor India had also announced a price increase of up to Rs25,000 from next month across its models.

Meanwhile, German luxury car maker BMW said it would increase product prices in India by up to 5 per cent with effect from the first week of January.

General Motors India, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra also are expected to announce increased prices from next month citing higher input costs.