Mercedes to hike prices from January by up to 2%

German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz today said it will hike prices of its entire model range in India, effective January 1, 2017, by up to 2 per cent to offset rising inflation, input costs and increasing forex rates.

"The rising inflation coupled with rising input costs and increasing forex rates have been exerting significant pressure on the bottom line," Mercedes Benz India said in a statement.

The combination of all these factors led to Mercedes-Benz India upwardly revising the prices of the entire model range, it added.

Mercedes-Benz India MD Roland Folger said: "A steady rise in input costs against the backdrop of increasing forex rates and high inflationary cost together have eroded our bottom line. We were left with fewer options but to make some necessary price adjustments to our product range in order to protect the investment of our customers."

He further said, "We, hence, decided to absorb a higher impact of these adversary factors on our price and pass a lesser part of it to customers, considering the current negative customer sentiment. We want to maintain a sustainable business in this dynamic market and want to retain our premium brand positioning."

Mercedes Benz sells a range of products in India starting from the A-Class priced at Rs 27 lakh to the Mercedes-Maybach S600 tagged at Rs 2.6 crore.

Several automobile manufacturers including Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota Kirloskar and Renault have already announced their plans to increase prices from January.