Volkswagen to hike vehicle prices by up to 2.5 per cent

German car-maker Volkswagen has announced that it will to increase its vehicle prices by up to 2.5 per cent in India from next month in order to offset impact of high input costs. The company said the price increase would be effective from January 1, 2014.

Commenting on the development, Volkswagen Passenger Cars Managing Director Arvind Saxena said, "We have been faced with constant rise in input cost over the past several months and have tried our best to absorb it."

"However, in order to maintain our quality standards that our customer expects from us, we have had to increase the price by a small percentage," he added.

Volkswagen sells Polo, Vento, Jetta, Passat, Touareg and the Phaeton in India.

Lately, Mahindra & Mahindra had also announced price hike of its passenger and commercial vehicles by up to 2 per cent from next month to offset high input costs. Prior to Mahindra was the French auto major Renault who announced it would increase vehicle prices. The company's wholly owned unit Renault India sells five models in India, including the sports utility vehicle Duster and compact car Pulse.

Earlier, Nissan said prices of its vehicles will increase including hatchback Micra and sports utility vehicle Terrano in India, by up to 4 per cent from next month. Other car makers who have announced price hike are Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki India, Hyundai Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Honda.