Tata, M&M cars get costlier

Owing to increase in the input costs, Tata Motors and Mahindra are going the Maruti Suzuki way and they too have announced price hike for their respective models. Buyers will now have to shell out more for Tata Indica and Indigo, M&M’s Xylo, Bolero and Scorpio.

Tata Indica and Indigo will be costlier with a price hike in the range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000. Prices of the Xylo have also gone up by Rs 4,600 while the Bolero will cost Rs 4,800 more. Scorpio bags the biggest price hike award with its prices being raised between Rs 6,400 to Rs 9,300 depending on the variants. The price rise will be applicable on 2010 models.

“Primary reason for the hike is the rise in prices of the inputs required to make vehicles,” said Arun Malhotra, senior VP, Automotive Sector, Mahindra and Mahindra.

Price hike seen in the automotive sector is due to surge in steel prices. Steel prices have risen by about $ 60-80/tonne in the past two months with current steel prices at $550/tonne due to rise in demand and increase in input costs. The car manufacturers will now focus on price increase to pass on cost increases rather than protect margins.