Hyundai Motor hikes prices up to Rs.30,000

South Korean car maker Hyundai Motor on Saturday announced an across-the-board price increase in all its models sold in India by up to Rs.30,000 except the "Creta" SUV that was launched globally only recently.

The hikes take effect from August 1. The car-maker currently has 10 car models across segments -- Eon, i10, Grand i10, Elite i20, Active i20, Xcent, Verna, Elantra, Santa Fe and Creta.

"The price increase has been necessitated by increase of input costs. We have been absorbing most of the costs but now we are constrained to consider the price increase in these challenging market environment," said Rakesh Srivastava, the company's senior vice president for sales and marketing.

Hyundai Motor India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the South Korean parent, among the largest passenger car exporters and the second-largest car maker in India. Its manufacturing plant in India is near Chennai.

Reacting to the development, an official of a Japanese car company, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told IANS that they were not likely to follow suit.

"Rise in input and other costs may also be company specific in some cases. For instance the logistics/transportation cost might go up for a company or change in vendors may result in increased costs.

"We do not have any plans to increase our prices," the official said.