Automakers to hike prices again to offset high input costs

India’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp will raise the prices of its scooters and motorcycles starting January 4, 2022, in a bid to fight the spike in raw material costs.

This would be the third time Hero has hiked its two-wheeler prices within a period of six months.

The price revision will be up to Rs. 2,000 and the exact quantum of increase will depend on the model and the market, the company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

In an exclusive interview with DH, homegrown carmaker Tata Motors also said it planned to hike prices.

“Prices of commodities, raw material and other input costs continue to rise. Tata Motors is compelled to increase prices of its passenger vehicles from January 2022 to offset the increasing cost pressures,” Shailesh Chandra, President of the Passenger Vehicles Business Unit at Tata Motors said.

The news came days after lakhs of micro, small and medium enterprises across India went on a one-day strike to protest the steep rise in the prices of steel and raw materials including aluminium and copper. They have also seen prices of Rhodium and Palladium – used in making premium cars – rise in recent times.

Aluminium alloy prices have risen 154.7%, copper prices have jumped 119.4% and steel prices have climbed 82.2% in the period from April 2020 until October 2021, recent data from Bengaluru-based Peenya Industries Association showed.

“Most companies are going to take a price hike in January. Most automakers have kept saying that they had not passed on the entire cost of inputs to the consumers and indicated further price rise to neutralise costs,” Nikunj Sanghvi, past president of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations, said.

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