German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz today said it will hike prices of
its entire model range in India, effective January 1, 2017, by up to 2
per cent to offset rising inflation, input costs and increasing forex
rates.

"The rising inflation coupled with rising input costs and increasing
forex rates have been exerting significant pressure on the bottom line,"
Mercedes-Benz India said in a statement to PTI.

The combination of all these factors led to Mercedes-Benz India upwardly
revising the prices of the entire model range, it added. Mercedes-Benz
India MD Roland Folger said: "A steady rise in input costs against the
backdrop of increasing forex rates and high inflationary cost together
have eroded our bottom line. We were left with fewer options but to make
some necessary price adjustments to our product range in order to
protect the investment of our customers."

He further said, "We, hence, decided to absorb a higher impact of these
adversary factors on our price and pass a lesser part of it to
customers, considering the current negative customer sentiment. We want
to maintain a sustainable business in this dynamic market and want to
retain our premium brand positioning."

Mercedes Benz sells a range of products in India starting from the
A-Class priced at Rs 27 lakh to the Mercedes-Maybach S600 tagged at Rs
2.6 crore. Several automobile manufacturers including Hyundai, Nissan,
Toyota Kirloskar and Renault have already announced their plans to
increase prices from January.

Goodreturns.in