NEW DELHI: If you are thinking about buying a car, it would be wiser to make the purchase during the remaining days of 2017 as four-wheelers are all set to become dearer from January 2018.
Owing to a rise in input costs and a few other factors, car makers are increasing selling prices by two to four per cent. The latest player to announce the price hike is utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M). The homegrown auto company on Thursday announced that it plans to increase prices of its passenger and commercial vehicles by up to 3 per cent.
Rajan Wadhera, President - Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. said, “We have been holding back on price hikes and absorbing the higher input costs for a while, but with the increase in commodity prices we will have to take a price increase.”Citing similar examples of rising input costs, the country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) has also announced an increase in prices across its models by up to 2 per cent from January. At present, the company sells a range of models, from the small hatchback Alto 800 with prices starting at `2.45 lakh to crossover S-Cross priced over `11.29 lakh.
While carmakers did not divulge the exact quantum of input cost rise, senior officials said that fluctuating commodity prices and forex rates, coupled with a rise in freight charges, had driven them to hike vehicle rates. “There has been an increase in the cost of manufacturing of vehicles. Frequent fluctuations in the global commodity prices and foreign exchange rates have continued to impact our input costs, from both domestic as well as import fronts,” a spokesperson for Toyota Kirloskar Motor was quoted saying this last week. The carmaker said that it is likely to hike prices across its models by up to 3 per cent from January 2018.
Meanwhile, Ford India, which sells the popular compact SUV EcoSport, said that it is capping the price hike to 4 per cent. Ford India Executive Director - Marketing, Sales and Service, Vinay Raina said, “The price increase is necessary due toseveral external factors, such as frequent fluctuations in commodity prices and rising input and freight costs.” Smaller players like Volkswagen and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) India (for Jeep Compass) also announced price hikes of `20,000 and `80,000 respectively from January next year.