Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest carmaker, has hiked prices of its entire range from January 18. Sources told CNBC-TV18 that the company has decided to hike prices of some of its models by up to Rs 34,000 (ex-showroom-Delhi).
Industry sources suggest that the price rise is due to a steep hike in cost of steel and raw material. The price of Maruti's car range starts at Rs 2.95 lakh for its entry-level small car Alto and goes up to the premium six-seater MPV, the XL6, priced at Rs 11.52 lakh (ex-showroom-Delhi).
While the price of Alto will be up by about Rs 9,000, Espresso will cost around Rs 7,000 more. Similarly, for Baleno, Brezza and Celerio, the hike will be around Rs 19,400, Rs 10,000 and Rs 14,400, respectively. For the Wagon R, customers will have to shell out between Rs 2,500 and Rs 18,200 extra.
The decision to increase prices comes at a time when the company has been struggling with sales amid the coronavirus pandemic. The company’s price hike will pass on some of the impact to customers. Although Maruti hiked prices of its range in January 2021, the hike this time is substantial.
In November 2020, Maruti Suzuki had posted a 2.4 percent decline in total domestic passenger vehicle sales at 1,35,775 units, against 1,39,133 in the same period in 2019.
Apart from Maruti Suzuki, few other carmakers, such as Kia, Hyundai, Mahindra, Honda, Renault, Ford, Skoda, Volkswagen, Nissan and Datsun, too, have announced price hikes, starting January 2021.
Here's the list of the price hike across variants:
Alto: Hike by up to Rs 9,000
Espresso: Hike by up to Rs 7,000
Baleno: Hike by up to Rs 19,400
WagonR: Hike by Rs 2500 up to Rs 18,200
Brezza: Hike by up to Rs 10,000
Celerio: Hike by up to Rs 14,400