As expected earlier, auto giant Maruti Suzuki India Limited has decided to hike the prices of its portfolio of cars in the country from next month. However, the company hasn’t revealed the size of this proposed hike. With this announcement, Maruti has joined the league of all other car makers who have already announced to hike the prices of its cars in the country including General Motors India, Hyundai India, Ford India and Toyota Kirloskar Motors. These leading car makers have decided to hike prices of their portfolio models in the country, after depreciating rupee made the imports of components considerably more expensive.
Speaking to CNBC-TV18 in an interview, Maruti Suzuki India managing executive officer- marketing and sales, Mayank Pareekh, said that the current year was not really good with additional pressure from factors like fuel prices and interest rates. He added that the general sentiment in the market has not been so good. Moreover, especially for brand Maruti, due to the labour unrest which the company had, the firm lost a lot of vehicles. The company expects that for this year, it see a degrowth, though things should start improving soon.
The current portfolio of Maruti in the Indian auto market include more than half a dozen cars including small cars like A-Star, Wagon R and Alto, compact hatchbacks like Zen Estillo, Ritz and Swift, and sedans like Swift Dzire, SX4 and Kizashi. Moreover, the company is looking forward to mark its debut in the Sports utility vehicle segment with the launch of a new model in this segment next year.
