In compliance with the On Board Diagnostics rule implemented by the Ministry of Road Transport, India's second largest passenger vehicle manufacturer Hyundai has decided to implement price hikes across all models, starting from April 1, 2013. Reportedly, this rule is expected to ensure that all vehicles follow emission norms strictly and faults, if any, will be indicated through the dashboard display unit. Similar to Hyundai, Honda Cars India Ltd is also increasing prices from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 10,000 across various models.
Coming to the hatchback segment in Hyundai, the Eon will now be Rs. 2,500 more than the base version, which begins at Rs. 2.77 lakh. Another vehicle in the same segment, Hyundai Santro, will see an increase of Rs. 2,830 in upcoming models. Popular hatch i10 is expected to get dearer by Rs. 600 to Rs. 900 from its current base price of Rs. 3.74 lakh. In the premium hatchback segment, i20 would be priced Rs. 575 more than the existing variants. Today, one can buy the i20 petrol at a starting price of Rs. 4.84 lakh, while the diesel range starts from Rs. 5.99 lakh.
Price changes have been made in other segments as well. Successful mid-size sedan Verna would be costlier by Rs. 1,340 from its starting price of Rs. 7.22 lakh (petrol) and Rs. 8.44 lakh (diesel). In line with the same core principle, executive sedan Hyundai Elantra will be priced Rs. 1,740 higher than the current version. Without the hike, the base version of Elantra petrol can be bought at Rs. 12.68 lakh, while the diesel variant starts at Rs. 13.08 lakh. In a similar fashion, premium sedan Sonata petrol will be available at a price Rs. 2,813 higher than its staring price of Rs. 18.76 lakh. In the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), Santa Fe would also get the same hike as Sonata. The base version of Hyundai Sonata currently costs Rs. 23.36 lakh.
Regretting the inconvenience caused to customers by the price hike, Vice President for Hyundai Sales and Marketing, Rakesh Srivastava said, “The price increase was necessitated due to On Board Diagnostic Compliance Changes (OBDC). We have increased the prices in the range of Rs. 575 to Rs. 2,830 across all the models. We have tried to absorb the maximum cost to minimize the price increase to cause less inconvenience to our valued customers.” One hopes that Indian customers realise the long term benefits of OBDC and thereby continue to purchase vehicles.
