By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group is considering a large-scale markup of its vehicle prices due to recent hikes in raw material prices.
Details of the move will be available next month, but it seems inevitable that its entire lineup will see increases, the nation's biggest automaker said Sunday.
``The level of the markup will be set after taking raw material prices and exchange rates into account in the first-half settlement,'' a Hyundai-Kia manager said.
Executives of the company are keeping a low profile while deliberating possible options for the price increase.
The impact will be bigger on consumers, as other carmakers are expected to follow suit.
Giving specific details could cause complaints from customers who have already contracted purchases before the markup, as well as trade tensions over price adjustments, the company said.
Circumstances so far have allowed the maker to get away with not raising vehicle prices.
Hyundai-Kia, whose profits hugely depend on exports, is benefiting from recent high won-dollar rates. Up until recently, it has tried to moderate the shock from surging commodities with efforts to increase productivity and save costs.
This year, however, its loss from raw materials is estimated to be around several hundred billion won, which is too big to be written off by exchange gains and cost-savings only.
A possible upcoming strike by autoworkers also affected the decision, sources say.
Hyundai Motor's labor union announced Saturday its members voted for a strike, one day after its subsidiary Kia Motors called a walkout along with GM Daewoo and Ssangyong Motor.
The Korean Metal Workers Union, a trade union for automobiles and parts manufacturing companies, decided to hold a strike as wage negotiations among its four auto-making clients dragged on. Hyundai had a two-day vote from Friday.
Before the vote, Hyundai President Yoon Yeo-chul urged stable labor-management relations in a statement, saying the union ``should not turn their heads away from the harsh reality, in which the whole country is suffering from economic hardship.''