Car prices seem to be on an upward drive with Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest automaker increasing the prices of all its models followed by Hyundai Motors. They ascribe the price hike to higher input costs, particularly steel.

The entry level Maruti 800 and Alto have become dearer by Rs 1500, while the price of the Zen Estillo has shot northwards by Rs 1000. The Omni and Wagon R petrol will now cost an additional Rs 2000. The price of the Wagon R Duo (petrol/LPG model) has gone up by Rs 1000.

Maruti Suzuki is in the midst of a major price hike across all other models. It is worth mentioning that some of these models like the Swift Diesel and the recently launched Dzire come attached with a considerable waiting period in the market.

While the Swift petrol is going to set one back by Rs 9000, the diesel version has become costlier by Rs 15000. The SX4 has seen a sizeable hike of Rs 9000 in its price, while the Versa has become pricier by Rs 8000. Although the price of the Dzire (both petrol & diesel) has been further stretched by Rs 18000, Maruti claims that it is not due to the input cost pressure, but a result of the culmination of the 'introductory price' scheme on the car.

Following in Maruti Suzuki's footsteps Hyundai Motors India has also increased its prices. The South Korean auto giant announced on Wednesday that it would raise the prices of all its models by 2% starting from the first week of June onwards. Hyundai Motors India's stable currently consist of a menagerie of highly successful cars like the i10, Santro, and Verna, besides the ageing Accent and the not so successful Getz and Sonata Embera in the country. This is the second instance of price revision of its models by Hyundai Motors India in the current year. Earlier in January, HMI had hiked the prices across all it models by 2% to 3%.

The cost of materials such as steel has drastically increased, and with key suppliers demanding higher prices, it was inevitable that automakers would sooner or later decide to pass on the cost to the customers.

General Motors, another industry biggie is likely to review the prices of its models after this month. It incidentally has schemes on its highly successful hatch, the Spark. Japanese auto giant Honda had increased the price of its luxury sedan Civic earlier in the month by Rs 10,000. The company however has been reluctant to follow suit with its high selling 'City' owing to pressures from its rivals.

Car sales are bound to take a back seat as a result of the price hike, and are likely to affect the industry as a whole since it comes at a period when retail financing is not freely available. The automobile industry is already reeling under the effect of high interest rates, leading to people delaying their purchase plans. Therefore, one can't help feeling that the recent price hike couldn't have come at a worse time.