M&M hikes price of XUV500 by Rs30,000

In a much anticipated move, following other auto players, Mahindra & Mahindra yesterday said it would hike the prices of its recently launched international car XUV500 by at least Rs30,000 from 1 January due to increasing raw material costs and the fall of the rupee. 

"The price rise has been necessitated as the launch price was an invitation price and there has also been a considerable impact of increase in raw material costs and the rupee depreciation with respect to the dollar and the euro," M&M said in a statement in Mumbai. 

"However, as a special case, for all the current bookings, for which delivery has not been made and in spite of the terms of price applicable at the time of delivery, the increase would only be 50 per cent of the actual price increase proposed,'' the company said. 

While this would drive up the cost of the base model by Rs30,000, the four-wheel drive variant will cost as much as Rs50,000 and the higher W8-AWD model would carry a price tag dearer by Rs55,000. All the prices are ex-showroom, Delhi. 

Other auto majors including Toyota, Hyundai, Ford and GM had announced price hikes of upto 3 per cent from the next month in view of the rising input costs.

However, industry leader Maruti has not yet announced an increase in prices.