Rupee crash is BAD news for car buyers

German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz on Thursday said it will hike prices of its entire model range in India by up to 4.5 per cent from September 1 to partly offset impact of rupee depreciation and higher import duties.

The quantum of price revision will be in the range of 2.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent across the models that the company sells in India.

With the latest price revision, the company's new A-Class 180 CDI luxury compact car will now be priced at Rs 22.05 lakh, an increase of 4 per cent, Mercedes- Benz India said in a statement.

The B-Class 180 CDI model will now be pricier by 4 per cent at Rs 23.50 lakh while the C-Class 200 CGI sedan will now cost Rs 32.25 lakh, an increase of 2.5 per cent, it added.

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The newly launched E-Class 200 CGI saloon, will now be available at Rs 42.16 lakh, up by 3.5 per cent while the sports utility vehicle ML-Class 250 CDI would be expensive by 4 per cent at Rs 50.98 lakh (all prices are ex-showroom Mumbai).

"The rising input costs along with higher import duties have been creating significant pressure on our bottomlines for quite some time now. The constant weakening of the currency and the increase in other relevant taxes further impacted the business, adversely," Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and CEO Eberhard Kern said.

He said the company has been absorbing a significant portion of these impacts till now, but to run a sustained and profitable business in the long run, revising the prices upwards was inevitable.

When asked if the rupee continued to slide against the dollar further, would the company hike the price, Kern said: "The price hike that we are undertaking does not cover the impact of the current exchange rate hit and if this continues we will have to have a re-look at the pricing. We are hoping that the exchange rate returns to a reasonable level."

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On Wednesday, General Motors India had hiked the price of its three models by up to Rs 10,000 from the first week of September due to a sharp depreciation in the rupee against the US dollar.

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Earlier this month, BMW group had also hiked price of its products across models, including the Mini, by up to 5 per cent.

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Last month, Audi had also hiked prices across its models in India by up to 4 per cent, a maximum of Rs 4.42 lakh on its R8 model to offset the impact of the rupee depreciation and rise in input costs.

The rupee has been weakening against the dollar for a prolonged period. It had yesterday registered its biggest single-day fall of 256 paise to close at an all-time low of

68.80 against the dollar as global oil prices jumped, deepening concerns about the current account deficit and capital outflows.

It is affecting companies which are importing their products and parts to India.