Car price rise: Here's how auto firms are revising prices of their key brands

Several automakers have hiked prices for their cars due to the increase in their input costs starting April 2022. This is the second time the auto sector has received a price increase this year as the first hike took place in early January. Factors like Russia-Ukraine war and the resurgence of the Covid-19 wave in China, UK and US also plays a big role disrupting supply of parts and materials.

Carmakers like Maruti Suzuki, Kia, Tata Motors, MG Motor, Hyundai and Toyota among others have increased the cost of their respective cars in India, with many companies delaying the delivery of their vehicles by several months due to the rise in demand.

Some carmakers also have to limit their offerings due to constraints of the limited supply of parts in the market. Manufacturers like MG and Hyundai, which have also increased the cost of several vehicles in their line-up, have also discontinued a few of the variants and features to keep up with the demand.

With the procurement cost of materials still rising and the unstable geopolitical situation, many manufacturers - who have already implemented a price hike this month - may be forced to increase the prices of their vehicles again.

Here’s why manufacturers have to increase their vehicle costs and by how much:  

Maruti Suzuki

Maruti Suzuki, which has already increased its vehicle prices four times in the past year and by up to 8.8 per cent from January 2021, had recently announced that it will increase the prices of its entire model range again this month owing to the rising in input costs.

The automaker, in a regulatory filing, said that over the past year, the cost of the company's vehicles continued to be adversely impacted due to an increase in various input costs, “Therefore, it has become imperative for the company to pass on some impact of the above additional costs to customers through a price hike.”

The company has planned to increase the cost of its cars in April but didn’t disclose the quantum of the proposed price hike.

Kia India

Kia India has also increased prices across its entire range from April this year. This includes the Seltos, Sonet, Carnival and even the Carens which was launched in March 2022.

This hike from Kia India comes despite the company recording its best-ever sales in March at 22,622 units. This was an increase of 18.44 per cent in March 2021 and a 24.84 per cent increase from February 2022. The company has increased its car prices by up to Rs 70,000.

Toyota

Toyota, on the other hand, has increased prices by up to four per cent, making this its second price hike in 2022 after January. The company has increased the prices of its entire line-up, which are the new Glanza, Urban Cruiser, Innova Crysta, Fortuner and others.  

Toyota has increased the prices of its cars by up to Rs 1.20 lakh.

While the hike in the prices of a car is usually based on model and variant, Tata Motors has managed to get a flat price hike across its select models. The company has increased the prices of its cars like Altroz diesel and petrol variants, Tata Harrier, Nexon diesel and petrol, Punch, Tiago, Tigor and Safari. All these cars are now dearer by Rs 3,000. In addition to this, the last time Tata Motors had increased the prices of their cars was, same as other manufacturers, in Jan 2022.

MG Motor

MG Motor, which has entered the Indian market in July 2019, offers premium cars like Hector, Gloster and Astor at competitive prices. However, due to the rising input costs, the has made some key changes to its lineup. Apart from revising the prices of its SUV line-up, the two lower variants of the company’s midsize SUV Astor are currently unavailable for bookings.

With this temporary halt in bookings for Style and Super variants, the entry price of the Astor has increased considerably. The base Style trim, which was priced from Rs 9.98 lakh, now costs Rs nearly 13.28 lakh and goes up to Rs 17.72 lakh for the top-spec variant. Apart from this, MG has also increased prices of the Hector, Hector Plus and Gloster SUVs by up to Rs 50,000 depending on models and variants.

Hyundai India

Hyundai India, on the other hand, had updated the prices of its SUV Creta by up to Rs 5,000 and also discontinued the SX petrol-automatic and SX Dual Tone petrol-automatic variants. It should be noted that Hyundai may not bring back its discontinued trims as the company has already introduced new variants as a replacement and is also expected to be working on the facelift of the new Creta.

BMW India

BMW India had stated that it will be increasing the prices of its models across the country by up to 3.5 per cent starting April 1, to adjust the material and logistical cost, exchange rates and the impact of the current geopolitical situation.

The company’s India line-up consists of the 2-series Gran Coupe, 3 Series, 3 Series Gran Limousine, 5 Series, X1, X3 and others. Interestingly, there’s no update regarding any price revision of BMW-owned Mini cars.

Mercedes-Benz India

Mercedes-Benz India had also announced to increase the price of its entire offerings in the country effective from April 1. The luxury carmaker stated that the imminent price correction would be in the range of 3 per cent across all its models, which includes A-Class Limousine, E-Class, CLS, S-Class, GLC, GLE and GLS, among others.

Audi India

Audi India stated that it had increased the prices of its vehicles in India from April 1. "The price hike is a result of rising input costs and will come into effect from April 1, 2022", the luxury automaker said. In January, Audi had increased its prices by 3 per cent.