General Motors to up prices in Jan

Close on the heels of Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL), General Motors India (GM) has decided to hike the prices of its cars in January.

A senior company official on Thursday said the prices of both the Opel and Chevrolet models may go up over one per cent and a revised price list will be released soon.

P Balendran, vice-president, corporate affairs, General Motors, said, "With the recent hike in steel prices and increased transportation costs, we are going to hike the prices of all our variants in January."

Hyundai Motors had increased the prices of its models on Wednesday, while Maruti will release its revised price list in January. The price of Hyundai Santro has been increased by around Rs 8,000 and the price of Accent GLE has gone up by Rs 6,000.

Skoda Motors, makers of Octavia premium segment vehicle, is also working on a price hike in 2005. So far the company has not released its revised price list. The company had recently undertaken an expansion plan at its Halol plant near Vadodara in Gujarat.

The Indian arm of the world's biggest carmaker manufactures Opel Corsa, Corsa Sail, Corsa Swing, Chevrolet Optra and Chevrolet Tavera at the Halol plant. The company also imports and sells luxury sedan Vectra and sports utility vehicle Chevrolet Forester.