Bad News....How about a price increase?

[BaywayRic]

The attached articles are from Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal. Net Net...Hyundai had a bad 2nd quarter, is cutting US production, and implementing "about" a 2% price increase across the board starting in August. [That would be Friday]

 

[GenFan]

I think it's possibe that we won't see this increase on the Genesis. To have a price increase on a vehicle that was just released seems a little strange. I think the increases we likely be in the Sonata, Elantra, Sante Fe, and others.

Then again, I can easily be wrong.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

I think a price increase (right now) would hurt Genesis sales.. "Some" people already know that the price is higher than it was originally supposed to be. If they're smart, they'll leave the Genesis alone and let it sell as much as possible... I think they will..

 

[Simonwpb]

IMHO Raise the price on the other models that haven't converted from 2008 to 2009 yet.

 

[Simonwpb]

A sign of things to come?

Hyundai Raises Vehicle Prices
By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
7/31/2008

Hyundai Motor hiked the prices of all its vehicles today, as previously announced earlier last month, in an effort to cope with the incessantly rising cost of raw materials.

The nation's biggest automaker Thursday unveiled details of revised product prices. Domestic vehicle models rose by an average 1.9 percent, and export ones by an average 2 percent. Kia Motors, Hyundai's affiliate, also said on the same day it is set to raise prices.

The overall increase is inevitable for the manufacturer because soaring commodity prices are overwhelming, Hyundai said.

Most price raises were set between 1.9 and 2 percent, with the price hike of small-sized vehicles and trucks below 1.5-percent, and one particular sub-model of the Genesis sedan rose 2.2 percent.

"We decided to minimize the price hike for those models because it's usually less well-off drivers who purchase them, and some use the vehicles for their livelihood," Hyundai said.

Under the new prices, the Genesis sedan will sell at between 41.3 million won ($40,826) and 59.4 million won, while the Sonata sedan, Hyundai's local bestseller, will now cost between 18.3 million won and 28.2 million won.

Details of the new prices for overseas market models are to be released later, the maker said.

Hyundai, currently the world's fifth-largest carmaker as a combined body with Kia, posted 11 percent fall in second-quarter net profits last week due mostly to surging oil prices.

Hyundai's move is likely to cause a chain reaction in the domestic market.

GM Daewoo said in a statement the same day its plan for a price increase of about two percent is underway and will be announced soon. Renault Samsung also said it is considering raising prices, but with no details confirmed yet.

Ssangyong Motor, however, reiterated it has no particular plan for a markup.

hckim@koreatimes.co.kr

 

[Sal Collaziano]

It's funny to watch prices of cars go up as unemployment goes up, gas prices go up, food prices go up, clothing prices go up and we fall deeper into a recession. Oh well..

 

[mkaresh]

I'm doing a final update of 2008 prices for my site, and many manufacturers have bumped prices by $1,000+ in recent months. They're all feeling squeezed by higher material costs, especially steel.

There isn't a doubt in my mind that as soon as the Genesis gains a little traction in the market, and even if it does not, prices will be going up, probably by a couple thousand before the model year is over.

Inflation and unemployment...welcome back to the 1970s.