Nissan to hike vehicle prices from January

Japanese car major Nissan on Tuesday said will hike the prices of its vehicles, including hatchback Micra and sports utility vehicle Terrano in India, by up to 4 per cent from next month in order to offset the impact of rupee depreciation and escalating input costs.

The company, which is a present in the country through a wholly-owned subsidiary Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd, said the price increase ranging from 2 per cent to 4 per cent, will be effective from January 2014.

"The price increase will impact the purchase price of premium hatchback Micra, sporty Micra Active, mid-sized sedan Sunny, MPV Evalia and newly launched SUV Terrano," the company said in a statement.

Commenting on the development Hover Automotive India (Nissan's National Sales Company) Acting Chief Operating Officer Richard D Spitzer said that although the rupee

situation seems to have stabilised, the higher exchange rate has impacted costs all-round, making price increase inevitable.

"Inflation-led rise in input costs and raw materials costs also cannot be ignored at this point. The price increase is marginal and we assure our valued customers that we will continue to offer them globally renowned products at affordable prices," he added.

In India, Nissan sells a range of vehicles, including hatchback Micra, mid-sized sedan Sunny, Nissan Evalia (MPV), and newly-launched compact SUV Terrano along with SUV X-Trail.

These are priced between Rs 4.9 lakh and Rs 26.96 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Earlier this week, Tata Motors had announced to hike prices of its passenger vehicles by about 1 per cent from next month.

Last week, leading car-makers Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai had also announced to hike prices from January, joining the likes of Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Honda.

Earlier during the month, Honda Cars India Ltd had announced to take a price hike from first week of next month to partially offset impact of adverse exchange rate and inflation.