Carmakers announce yet another price hike despite record margins and falling raw material costs, citing high input costs even in the face of evidence to the contrary.
India’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India, announced on Monday that it is considering a price hike from January 2024. Following suit, Tata Motors, Audi India and Mercedes-Benz India also announced similar intent. A chain reaction into other brands can realistically be expected over the next month. The reasons cited by these carmakers centre around cost pressures driven by overall inflation and high commodity prices.
This may not be entirely accurate, on two counts.
For one, carmakers usually see a dull retail sales month in December. Buyers prefer to wait till January of the next year to get a new model …
Ujval leads our Business vertical at The Morning Context. In a corporate career spanning 14 years, he has worked across startups, consulting firms, multinational corporations and large Indian companies, including India Infoline, ICICI, KPMG, Tata Steel and Jubilant Pharma. Ujval has been a freelance writer and trainer for eight years, with bylines in Forbes India and The Economic Times.
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