The New Year may not be kind to those planning to buy new vehicles as almost all major automobile companies have announced a hike in their prices starting from January.
Passenger vehicle sales in India, the barometer of automobile industry's performance as well as the state of the economy, plunged 78.43 per cent in the April-June period of the pandemic-hit 2020, declining for the ninth straight quarter and making it the longest slowdown in 20 years.
It is estimated that during the prolonged lockdown, the auto industry suffered losses of more than Rs 2,300 crore in turnover for every single day of closure.
Most automobile companies are set to increase the prices across models in order to overcome the unprecedented challenge as well as to make up for the rising cost of commodities.
Onmanorama compiles here the details in this regard announced by all the major automobile manufacturers based in India:
Nissan
Japanese automaker Nissan has said it will hike prices of its vehicles in India by up to 5 per cent across models from next month to offset increased costs.
The revised prices will be applicable across all available models for Nissan and Datsun, effective January 2021, Nissan Motor India said in a statement.
The company sells a range of mass market vehicles under the Datsun and Nissan brands, including Datsun Redi-Go, newly launched SUV Magnite and Kicks, with prices in the range of Rs 2.89 lakh to Rs 14.15 lakh.
Volkswagen
German carmaker Volkswagen said it will hike prices of its hatchback Polo and mid-sized sedan Vento in India by up to 2.5 per cent from next month.
The company sells Polo and Vento with price starting from Rs 5.88 lakh and Rs 8.94 lakh, respectively.
Maruti Suzuki
The country's largest car manufacturer was among the first to announce a price hike for January 2021 and cited the rise in input prices as the reason. Though the exact details are awaited, a significant uptick, more than the usual, is expected next month.
Maruti Suzuki had also stated that the price increase would vary for different models without specifying details.
BMW
German luxury carmaker BMW announced it will increase prices of its entire model range in India by up to 2 per cent from next month.
The automaker will introduce the revised pricing for all BMW and MINI models, effective January 4, 2021.
Audi
Audi has already announced a price increase of up to 2 per cent across its entire model range, effective from January 1 next year.
Isuzu
Utility vehicle maker Isuzu Motors India said it will hike prices of its pick-up range - D-MAX Regular Cab and D-MAX S-CAB - from January 1 to offset the increasing input and distribution costs.
The increase is expected to be approximately Rs 10,000 from the current ex-showroom price, the company said in a statement.
MG Motor
MG Motor said it will raise prices of its vehicles by up to three per cent from January to offset the adverse impact of higher input cost.
The company also said it will introduce a seven-seater version of its Hector Plus model next month.
Renault
Renault too declared it will increase price of its entire model range by up to Rs 28,000 from January.
The company, which sells models like Kwid, Duster and Triber, said the price hike from January would vary across variants and products.
Honda
Japanese auto major Honda plans to increase vehicle prices in India from next month and company dealers have been informed about the decision, industry sources said.
A company dealer confirmed the development and said the company is hiking the prices from January due to pressure on input cost and currency impact.
The model wise amount of increase will be intimated by the company to us in early January, the dealer added.
Tata Motors
Though it is likely that the passenger vehicles price may go up, no announcement has been made on it so far by the Indian automobile giant.
Tata Motors, however, said its commercial vehicle prices will be revised upward from January next year.
The steady rise in material and other input costs, impact of forex and transition to BS-VI norms, have cumulatively increased the cost of manufacturing vehicles, necessitating a price revision to partially offset the impact, the company said in a statement.
The price rise is expected across the portfolio of medium and heavy commercial vehicles, intermediate and light commercial vehicles, small commercial vehicles as well as buses.
Mahindra & Mahindra
Mahindra had already hiked the price of its flagship new Thar in December after introducing the offroader with a starting price less than Rs 10 lakh. It is likely to increase prices of all its SUVs and commercial vehicles in January though the specifics are yet to be announced.
Ford
Ford India has said it will increase prices of its vehicles across models by up to 3% from January 1.
The price hike will range from 1-3%, translating into an increase of around ₹5,000 to ₹35,000 depending on the model.
Hyundai
The second largest manufacturer of passenger vehicles in India has also announced that it will increase the price across its range but has not revealed any details.
Kia
Kia, the latest entrant to the ever-booming Indian automobile market, has conveyed to its dealers about a 'significant upward correction' in the prices of Seltos and Sonet from January. However, price of the Carnival MPV may remain the same.
Hero MotoCorp
Hero also announced that it will increase the price of its two-wheelers by up to Rs 1,500 from January 1, 2021, to offset the impact of rising input costs.
(The list will be updated as manufacturers make announcements.)
