Nissan to hike prices by up to 3% from Jan

Nissan brand of vehicles in India range from the Micra hatchback to SUV Terrano

Nissan Group of India on Monday said it will increase prices of its Nissan and Datsun range of vehicles by up to 3 per cent from January, 2016.

"The price increase is to offset the rising input costs.

"The revision of prices will soften the negative impact and help the company stay competitive," Nissan Motor India managing director Arun Malhotra said.

Nissan brand of vehicles in India range from the Micra hatchback to SUV Terrano with prices starting from Rs 447,000 to Rs 12.91 lakh or Rs 1.29 million (ex-showroom Delhi).

The Datsun range of vehicles include the entry level small car Datsun Go and multi-purpose vehicle Datsun Go Plus which are priced between Rs 323,000 and Rs 476,000 (ex-showroom Delhi).

Last week, the country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India had also said that it would hike prices of its vehicles across models by up to Rs 20,000 from January to offset impact of rising costs and weakening of the rupee against the US dollar, joining competitors in making such a move.

Rival Hyundai Motor India had also announced that it would hike prices of its products by up to Rs 30,000 from next month to offset rising input costs and unfavourable foreign exchange fluctuation.

Already various car makers, including Toyota, General Motors India and German luxury car makers Mercedes Benz and BMW, have announced a hike in prices of their vehicles across models from January to offset rising input costs.

Experts believe carmakers usually come up with such year-end announcements which help them clear inventories left after the heavy festival discounts on vehicles.

Image: Nissan Leaf. Photograph: Kind courtesy, Nissan