Maruti Suzuki to raise prices in January

Maruti Suzuki will increase the prices of its vehicles across various models from next month to try and offset the impact of rising commodity prices and fluctuation in foreign exchange rates.

The largest car maker of the country, however, did not specify by how much the prices of its vehicles would increase. Maruti officials said they were working out the range of hike.

Analysts feel Maruti will try and keep the increases within a moderate range as it is already finding it tough to sell cars given the slowing consumer demand. In November, Maruti’s sales were down marginally by 0.7 per cent compared with the same month last year. For Maruti, steel, aluminium and engineered plastics that go into making a car have become costlier while the Japanese yen which used to cost about 57 paise in January now costs 62 paise.

“The cost of the company’s vehicles has been impacted adversely due to an increase in commodity prices and foreign exchange rates,” Maruti Suzuki said in a regulatory filing with stock exchanges on Wednesday.

“Hence, it has become imperative for the company to pass on some impact of the above additional cost to customers through a price increase across various models in January 2019,” it added.

At present, Maruti Suzuki sells a range of vehicles starting from the entry-level Alto800 to premium crossover S-Cross priced between Rs 2.53 lakh and Rs 11.45 lakh.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited