Chennai, Dec 14 (IANS): Renault India Wednesday said it will raise the price of its recently launched sports utility vehicle (SUV) Koleos from Rs.22.99 lakh to Rs.23.99 lakh from Jan 1,2012, due to rupee depreciation and rising input costs.

"This (hike) has been necessitated by the increase in the cost of raw materials and fluctuations in the currency market. Until now we have been absorbing the increases, but we now have to reflect an element of these costs in our pricing," Marc Nassif, managing director, Renault India, said in a statement.

"It (Koleos) has been very well received in the Indian market and has already established a strong position in the SUV segment in India," he said.

Koleos was launched in India in September this year. The car is powered by a two-litre dci diesel engine with a maximum power output of 150 PS at the rate of 4,000 rpm and peak torque of 320Nm at the rate of 2,000 rpm.

Other car manufacturers such as Hyundai, General Motors (GM) and Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) have also decided to hike prices from January.

Automobile major Hyundai Motor will hike prices by 1.5 percent to two percent across models in January 2012. GM will raise its prices by one-to-two percent next year, and the prices of TKM cars manufactured in India would be hiked by about 3 percent.

The rupee has so far depreciated by nearly 16 percent against the US dollar in the last four months. The high input and interest costs have dampened the auto-sector sales.