Hyundai has increased the price of its i10 by £200 and i20 by £300 due to the weakness of the British pound against the Indian rupee.
Since February, the pound has decreased by around 15 per cent compared with the rupee. Hyundai says it had reached the stage where the Indian-built i10 and i20 cars sold in the UK were not making any profit.
A Hyundai source said, “We got to the stage where we were losing money on every i10 and i20 sold. These cars could be sold at a profit in France or Germany, so we had to increase the price or risk losing future stock."
Profit margins on the i10 and i20 have been especially tight since the introduction of the scrappage scheme. With the £2000 scrappage reduction taken off, an i10 can be bought for £5300 and an i20 for £6550.
The source didn’t rule out a further price increase in the future.
“If the currency fluctuations continue, then we may have to put up prices again,” they said.
“But whereas other manufacturers have put the prices up across their entire ranges, we have only put our prices up on the Indian-built models.”
Hyundai has promised to honour the original price of all i10 and i20 models ordered before 10 August, the date when it informed dealers of the price increases. Only models ordered after this date will incur the price rise.
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