All car producers are planning a 1-3% hike in prices from April 1, due to new emission norms and to combat increasing raw material costs. The hike is anticipated to be at least Rs 2,000 on a mini car, increasing to Rs 71,000 on a high-end luxury sedan.
The rise is mainly due to rising raw material costs, which has been moving upward during the last 2-3 months, say producers. Alterations in the emission norms from April 1, which make it compulsory to manufacture vehicles meeting the Bharat Stage IV (BS IV) emission norms in 13 notified cities, is also cause for this. Manufacturers have to upgrade their whole array of cars to BS IV level, by incorporating engineering modifications.
The 13 cities – National Capital Region, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Surat, Pune, Kanpur and Agra – would be moved to BS IV levels, the remaining country will be moved to BS III, presently available in these 13 cities.
P Balendran, director and vice president, corporate affairs, General Motors, said: “We will be hiking our prices in the range of 1-1.5 per cent from April 1. The hike will be made across the product range, except the newly launched products, Cruzeand Beat.”
This is the 3rd time in this calendar year that producers would be hiking their prices.