Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) Limited, the country's largest utility vehicle maker, has announced to hike prices of its all its products marketed in the Indian auto market, with effect from January 2013. The announcement came in New Delhi on December 11, 2012 and the company is expected to increase prices of its entire fleet by over 1 per cent, so as to offset the adverse effects of ever rising input costs. The utility vehicle is latest in line of car makers who have declared to increase retail costs of their domestic product portfolio from next year (2013) onwards. The list is pretty long and includes the likes of Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), American auto giant General Motors, Japanese Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) and German sports and luxury car maker BMW.
The news came into light when Pravin Shah, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Automotive Division of Mahindra and Mahindra, was quoted as saying, “We are also contemplating a price hike across various models. The quantum is yet to be decided but it will be one per cent and above. This will take place in the first half of January.”
Regarding the upcoming hike, Shah added that the company has resorted to price increase in order to curtail input cost pressure and not because it intends to liquidate existing stock. M&M has witnessed great success in terms of vehicle sales all along the 2012 calendar year, when other automobile firms suffered due to slowdown. Reportedly, M&M's wholesale figures, comprising its utility vehicle fleet and Verito sedan has climbed up by more than 20 per cent in the last seven months.
