Cars and SUVs get costlier this year

Buying a car this new year is set to become more expensive as a string of carmakers have announced price hikes across their model ranges.

Hyundai announced an increase in prices across the board by up to Rs 1 lakh, depending on the model. The country’s largest carmaker Maruti is also likely to raise its prices by up to 2 percent, according to reports. Homegrown carmaker Tata has hiked its prices by as much as Rs 25,000, while prices of passenger vehicles from Nissan and Datsun have gone up by Rs 30,000. Toyota, Renault and Honda have hiked prices by up to 3 percent across their line-up.

German carmaker Volkswagen too, might raise prices by 3 percent, according to an industry source. Chevrolet models have also seen a hike of 1-3 percent, depending on variant.

Among luxury carmakers, Mercedes-Benz has announced its decision to raise vehicle prices by 2 percent.

Automakers cited the increase in cost of raw materials such as rubber, steel and aluminium, along with the fluctuating exchange rates and increasing operating expenses as reasons for this hike.

While an increase in vehicle prices at the beginning of the year is standard practice, it could be detrimental to growth this time around as demand has already slowed down with the demonetisation drive. Buyer sentiments are subdued and dealerships have also recorded a significant decline in footfalls and enquiries.

Fuel prices go up

A double whammy for car buyers and motorists, oil marketing companies too hiked prices of petrol and diesel, due to the increase in global crude prices, effective from January 2, 2017.

Petrol price has been hiked by Rs 1.29/litre while the rate for diesel has gone up Rs 0.97/litre (excluding state taxes). The actual increase or decrease in prices will vary from state to state depending on local VAT taxes. As a result, petrol now costs Rs 70.60/ litre in Delhi, while diesel stands at Rs 57.82/litre in the capital.

Petrol and diesel prices are generally revised by state-owned oil marketing companies on the 1st and 16th of every month, and is dependent on the movement of fuel prices in the international market and rupee-dollar exchange rate in the previous fortnight.

Prices of petrol and diesel were last revised on December 16, 2016, when both the fuels became dearer by Rs 2.21/litre and Rs 1.79/litre respectively, in Delhi.