Cars Prices To Increase From 1 April Due to Rising Input Costs

The switch to new safety and emission norms as well as increased raw material costs are driving up vehicle prices.

Changing market conditions and the rising cost of raw materials, as well as compliance with new safety norms are pushing up car prices.

Photo: AP

Most car makers are announcing a hike in car prices from April. This has got to do with rising input costs, from steel to petroleum, as well as the need to overhaul some models to comply with upcoming safety and emissions norms.

India will move to Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emission norms from April 2020. It will also adopt new crash safety rules from October 2019, in a phased manner from April onwards. As car makers rush to revamp existing models and bring in engines that meet new norms, costs are bound to rise.

Similarly, the price of iron and steel, that account for a substantial input in a car have got up by 10 to 15 percent over the past year, forcing a hike in prices. Some of the car makers that have announced price hikes include Nissan, Mahindra, Tata and Toyota, while others will soon follow suit.

Nissan India announced hike of 4 percent on its Datsun range of cars, the Go and Go Plus.

“With rise in input costs and several economic factors,we are making a nominal price adjustment to our Datsun Go and Go+ models.”

Hardeep Singh Brar, Director Sales and Commercial, Nissan Motor India. 

Mahindra has announced a price hike of between 0.5 percent and 2.7 percent across models, which is an increase of between Rs 5,000 to Rs 73,000. Renault has announced an increase of 3 percent in its Kwid range (which will now come equipped with safety equipment across all variants).

Isuzu is hiking prices by up to 3 percent on its commercial range. Tata Motors is also increasing prices of all its vehicles by up to Rs 25,000 because of rising input costs.

“The changing market conditions, rising input costs and various external economic factors have compelled us to consider this price increase. We are confident of maintaining our growth trajectory in the coming months on the back of our robust portfolio.”

Mayank Pareek, President - Passenger Vehicle Unit, Tata Motors

Besides ex-showroom prices, the overall cost of buying a car will also rise as third-party insurance costs have gone up. New rules for two-wheeler insurance will also affect motorcycle and scooter prices. 

From 1 April a series of phased safety measures for cars and bikes kick in. By October 2019, all existing models of vehicles and new vehicles will have to comply with the new safety norms. And by April 2020, all vehicles will have to meet stringent BS-VI emission norms, from the current BS-IV norms. This will make diesel cars especially a lot more expensive.