Fiat India to hike car prices by 2 pc from January

"We are going to increase prices of Linea and Punto by two per cent with effect from January 1," a Fiat India Automobiles spokesperson told PTI.

The company is increasing prices as rising input costs in recent months have impacted margins, he added.

Besides higher raw material prices, Indian auto makers' margins are under pressure due to the sharp fall of the rupee against the US dollar in recent months.

To mitigate these adverse impact, auto makers like Mahindra & Mahindra Renault, Nissan Motor, Hyundai Motor, Ford, General Motors and Toyota Kirloskar have also announced hikes in the prices of their vehicles by up to 3 per cent from January 1.

Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra said it will raise the prices of its entire range of vehicles by up to 3 per cent from January 1.

While Renault India will hike the price of its sports utility vehicle Koleos by Rs 1 lakh from January 1, Nissan Motor India is hiking the prices of small car Micra and the petrol version of premium sedan Sunny by up to 2 per cent.

The country's second-largest car maker Hyundai Motor India will also raise prices of its vehicles by 1.5-2 per cent from January next year. Ford India said it will raise prices of its entire range of models by 2-3 per cent.

In a similar fashion, General Motors India has announced that it will raise prices by 1-2 per cent from January, 2012. It will also hike the price of its Beat diesel model by Rs 15,000.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor, too, had announced a price hike of 1.5-3 per cent across models manufactured in India from January 1, 2012.

Other car-makers, including Maruti Suzuki India, are also mulling a price hike to offset the impact of depreciating rupee and rising input costs.