Automobile major Maruti Suzuki India blamed rising commodity costs for another price hike from September for all its models. Earlier in calendar year 2021, the automobile major had increased prices in January, April, and in July only for the hatchback Swift and all CNG variants.

"Rising commodity prices, especially those of steel, copper, rhodium and palladium amongst others have left us with no choice but to raise prices across models," Maruti Suzuki India's Executive Director, Marketing and Sales, Shashank Srivastava said. "On an average the material cost accounts for 70 per cent of our overall cost structure."

According to Srivastava, the company tried not to raise prices to revive demand by cost-cutting and other measures. "But continuously rising material cost has left us with no options. The quantum of increase on average will be around 1.4% depending on the model."

"Currently, commodity prices have started to soften up a bit, the industry believes that the material cost will plateau out on these levels and soften more in Q3FY22 and Q4FY22."

The company had earlier raised prices for different car models in July for only the hatchback Swift and all CNG variants. The increase in ex-showroom prices (Delhi) at that time was up to Rs 15,000.

Earlier this week, Maruti Suzuki India Chairman RC Bhargava said high taxation, as well as road levy by state governments have driven passenger vehicle cost and dented sales. He added that more and more people are now finding it difficult to afford cars due to their high costs.

"The people in this country have great aspirations for vehicles. But the industry has been witnessing comparatively slower growth for the last 18 months. The government and the industry need to take necessary action collectively to revive the sector," Bhargava said. He also said that Indian customers should get modern vehicles.

"If we follow all the European standards, the vehicle costs may rise. Our focus should be on how to make the vehicles affordable for the masses. If the affordability factor is addressed, the Indian auto industry can certainly recover in the short term," he added.

With IANS inputs