Come April, cars are set to cost even more as leading automakers have said

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they would increase prices of vehicles next month to upgrade and make their products Euro IV emission norms compliant.

Major automakers including, Tata Motors, Fiat, Hyundai, Mahindra and General Motors plan to up product prices with the government set to implement the new emission norms from April 1. It requires vehicles to be upgraded to run on cleaner Euro IV fuel-- to be used in 13 cities-- and Euro III in the rest of the country.

"We will increase prices across all models except the Chevrolet Beat and Spark in the first week of April by up to Rs 6,000 following the new emission norms," General Motors Vice-President (Corporate Communications) P Balendran told PTI here.

"We were compelled to increase prices after the Budget following a hike in excise duty rates. This will be the second price hike by the company after the Budget," Balendran said.

Several car-makers had jacked-up their prices after the Budget and if they do so again in April, it would mean that prices would be going up for the second time in less than two months.

From April onwards, India will adopt stricter emission norms under which 13 major cities will upgrade to BS IV from BS III and the rest of the country would move up from BS II to BS III as per the recommendations of the Mashelkar Committee to control pollution.