There is a slowdown in demand of cars and because of same, India’s top carmaker Maruti Suzuki India has only hiked the prices of its models by 0.45%, this number is way less than its hike in last year.
Maruti Suzuki Hikes Model Lineup Prices by Only 0.45%
Due to the increasing commodity costs, Maruti along with other carmakers has decided to hike the prices towards the end of 2023.
Since the traditional customers of Suzuki are currently failing to keep up with the pace of inflating prices of goods ranging from cars to consumer products, the company has seen abysmal sales numbers in the small car segment.
As per the industry analysts, the sales of passenger vehicles shall grow around mid-single digits this fiscal and slow down further in the next, again followed by the sales surge in the last fiscal due to pent-up demand due to COVID.
In January last year, the company had increased prices of its entire car lineup by 1.1%. Notably, this is slightly more than the current 0.45% hike.
Small Cars Not Selling Well Despite Discounts
After wooing customer with seasonal discounts, every automaker in India increases the price of their vehicles in the first month of year.
In the year end 2023, the company gave 40-45% discounts on its lesser priced models. This was also due to the low demand in the entry level vehicles.
Despite the discounts, as compared to the previous year, the sales of small cars like Alto & Celerio were down by 29%. This can also be due to the moderation of wholesales by Maruti.
As compared to the last year’s fiscal rise of 26%, the overall sales in April-December was 8.5%.
