The price hike among auto manufacturers is not new as the prices of every raw material are increasing. Maruti Suzuki is following other manufacturers and has announced a price hike for their cars which will be in effect from September 6th 2021, i.e. today. The disclosure was made via a regulatory filing by the manufacturer. This is hardly surprising, given that the corporation announced its plan to implement such a raise late last month. That announcement was a continuation of Maruti Suzuki’s announcement in June 2021 that it planned to raise the pricing of its cars in the second quarter of FY2021-22, i.e. from July to September 2021. The carmaker then raised the pricing of the Maruti Suzuki Swift and all Maruti Suzuki CNG automobiles in India.
This is Maruti Suzuki’s third price rise in 2021. In any case, the third price hike, which is now in place, will see Maruti Suzuki car prices rise by 1.9 per cent. The company did not specify which Maruti Suzuki vehicles in India will be affected by the price increase. However, it will likely apply to all of the company’s vehicles.
Reason
Maruti Suzuki India senior executive director (sales and marketing) Shashank Srivastava had said there was no other left for the company but to increase prices to offset the impact of high commodity costs. He said that the steel prices have gone up from ₹38/kg last year to ₹65/kg in May-June this year. Similarly, copper prices have doubled from $5,200/tonne to $10,008/tonne. In the case of precious metals, the overall demand has gone up in various global markets and India due to the transition to stricter emission norms. Srivastava had said that the prices of precious metals like rhodium have increased from ₹18,000 a gram in May 2020 to almost ₹64,300 a gram in July. In the announcement, Maruti Suzuki said, “In continuation to our earlier communication on 30th August 2021, please note that with effect from 6th September 2021, the Company announced a price change for select models owing to increase in various input costs. The weighted average price increase in select models is 1.9%.”
The Maruti Suzuki is India’s top car manufacturer with their entire range being the most affordable and also worth the buck. The reason it has so much of sale is because of the customer services they provide. The customer is satisfied and even if they upgrade, they upgrade to the car by Maruti. They have vehicles from all the price points. The entry-level hatchback Alto starts from ₹2.99 lakh and S Cross priced at ₹12.99 lakh.