Hyundai has raised prices of all its vehicles starting from the entry-level Eon hatchback going up to the flagship Santa Fe SUV.
While the government was in no mood to allow the discounted excise duties to continue in the new year, manufacturers too have been been pushing the prices up in the name of increased input costs. Joining the likes of Honda, Maruti, Chevrolet, Tata and Mahindra that have already announced price hikes across their model range, Hyundai India too has announced a price hike ranging between Rs. 15,400 to Rs. 1.27 lakhs. The South Korean automaker says that the price hike has been done on account of higher excise duty, increased cost of inputs and currency fluctuations.
The price hike applies to all vehicles across the Hyundai range starting from the entry-level Eon hatchback that is now a bit expensive by Rs. 15,400/-, while prices for the i10 hatch has increased by Rs. 21,500/-. Hyundai’s bestseller for 2014, the new Elite i20 has also seen a hike in prices starting at Rs. 27,000/-, while the top-of-the-line Santa Fe has been hit the most and has seen a price hike of a whopping Rs. 1.27 lakhs. Considering the Santa Fe is brought in via the CKD route, the signficant hike is explainable.
In a bid to re-establish growth in the auto sector through the sluggish period, the former government had announced an excise duty cut which was extended up to 31st December 2014 by the new government. However with the market stabilizing, the government was not able to bear losses and had to reinstate the older excise duty figures with small cars, scooters and motorcycles now attracting 12 percent, while mid-sized cars attract 24 percent. SUVs and large vehicles are the most affected here, attracting an excise duty of 30 percent, from the earlier 24%.
