NEW DELHI: Home-grown auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Wednesday announced an increase in prices of its vehicles by up to Rs 36,000 from July 1 to comply with new government rules on care crash assessment tests, called AIS 145 Safety Norms.
Honda on Sunday had similarly announced a similar price hike for its vehicles in India. Honda cars will be costlier by 1.2 per cent with this. Maruti Suzuki too had, in April, announced that its Alto K10 had been upgraded to meet the new norms. Mahindra SUVs that will take a substantial price hike are the Scorpio, Bolero, TUV300 and KUV100 NXT, while brands such as the XUV500 and Marazzo will increase prices marginally.
The automobile major, while welcoming the new regulatory requirements, said that it has led to substantial cost escalation. “The safety regulatory requirement has led to some cost escalations. Consequently, we are taking a price hike across some of our passenger vehicles, effective July 1, 2019,” said Rajan Wadhera, president (Automotive Sector), M&M Ltd.
Almost every carmaker in recent times has hinted at price hikes to meet the new safety and as well as BS-VI emission norms. While some have already announced the jump, others are likely to, soon. The increase in prices by the carmakers comes at a time when car sales have plunged to new lows. The hikes, according to industry analysts, is expected to further demotivate buyers.
Meanwhile, this won’t be the only price hike the industry will witness in the near future, as BS-VI compliant vehicles are expected to be 8-15 per cent more expensive than the existing BS-IV compliant vehicles. Owing to this, India’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki, has decided to phase out its diesel models from next year. The carmaker recently introduced the BS-VI compliant Swift and Wagon R models that also meet the AIS-145 safety regulations.
The implementation of AIS 145 Safety Norms from July 1, 2019, mandates several safety features including driver airbag, seat-belt reminder for driver and co-driver, rear parking sensors and an overspeed alert for the driver.