General Motors India recently announced a price hike of up to Rs. 10,000 on its entire range of vehicles that are currently on sale in the country. The announcement came in on 20th December 2013 and will be put to effect from January 2014. Main reason behind the price hike has been given as a measure to partially mitigate the impact of rising input costs on the firm's profit margins. P Balendran, General Motors India Vice-president, talking about this decision, said, “We plan to hike prices across our entire product portfolio by up to Rs. 10,000 from January. This is due to cost pressure.”
At present, the auto company sells a wide range of vehicles in the Indian market. This decision has been chipped in after similar announcements from other major auto makers that operate in the country. The price hike strategy has already been adopted by luxury car brands to ensure sustainable operations and profitability. A few days back, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) declared a price hike on its vehicle range by up to Rs. 20000, which will come in effect from January 2014. The auto company attributed rising input costs on account of rupee devaluation as the main reason behind the passing of such a decision.
This is not the first time that General Motors India is making news in past months. Just recently, it had launched a smartphone application, 'myChevrolet India', for its esteemed customers. Rajesh Singh, Vice President Sales, Marketing and After-Sales at GM India, was present at the ceremony and spoke about the entire development and said, “GM India goes the extra mile to enhance its customer experience. We have developed ‘myChevrolet India App’ mobile app to provide features that give real- time benefits to the customer and provides a one stop shop. We feel the application will allow them to experience GM India services in an exciting new digital platform. This is another step in leveraging the potential of mobile technology to offer convenience and value to our customers.” Some other programs that were introduced by the auto company are product warranty of 3 Years/100000 km, Chevrolet promise cost of ownership programme and Chevrolet U-First free service camps.
