Maruti Suzuki India Limited, leading automakers in India have announced price hike by Rs 10,000 on select models from 10th January 2019 (today).
Even as it is a norm for automakers to hike prices at the start of the year, this hike in prices are primarily due to rising commodity prices and foreign exchange rates which the company was absorbing till date, but has now decided to pass on these costs to buyers.
It was for these similar reasons that other auto makers such as Hyundai, Tata Motors, Ford, Honda, Renault, Nissan, Toyota and BMW also hiked prices recently.
The country has also received noted a rise in exchange rate of prices of steel, aluminum and other metals while rising prices of fuel along with increase in interest rates have also left automakers with no other alternative than to increase prices of their car models in the country.
Though Maruti Suzuki has announced that the price hike will be only on certain car models, the company has not specified which car models will become more expensive following the increase in prices. The recently introduced next generation Ertiga, launched in India at Rs.7.44 lakhs could be one of the models that will see a price hike along with the new WagonR which was launched earlier this month.
The company sells a range of 15 cars right from the entry level Alto 800 to the top of the line premium crossover the S-Cross, priced between Rs.2.53 lakhs to Rs.11.45 lakhs. These cars are sold either directly through company dealerships, through Arena and NEXA dealerships. Maruti is now getting ready to launch the new generation WagonR, which the company has officially teased. It will launch on 23rd Jan.
Maruti has been posting steady sales in the past few months, as compared to the double digit the car maker was posting in the first half of 2018. With the new WagonR launch, Maruti aims to bring a boost in sales, which will help them post a 8% increase in sales for FY 2019.
