Car market leader Maruti Udyog on Thursday informed its dealers that it would raise prices by next month as rising input cost was putting pressures on margin.

Prices would go up by Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 in January as costs of steel, plastic and crude oil had gone up "substantially", a company communication to dealers said.

"Weakening dollar is also showing impact on procurement prices of imported parts," it said.

The cumulative effect of this increase might result in substantial increase in vehicle prices and the quantum was estimated to be in the range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000, Maruti said.

Increase in prices of steel, plastic and a weak dollar seemed to have forced the company to go for the proposed price increase, industry observers said.

Maruti, which is 54.2 per cent owned by Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan, had raised prices by about 0.38 per cent in August, 2004, when the Government levied two per cent cess on all tax heads in the Budget.

Prior to that, India's biggest carmaker increased prices in January, 2004, by 0.2 to 0.75 per cent owing to spiraling input costs.

Recently, Maruti Udyog Ltd Managing Director Jagdish Khattar had said the maximum price rise would be around 2-2.5 per cent with the steepest hike on 'Baleno' sedan'.

Maruti's rivals Hyundai Motor India, Tata Motors, Skoda Auto India, General Motors India and Ford Motors have also announced their plans to raise prices in January, 2005.

Maruti manufactures close to 10 models at its facility on the outskirts of Delhi.