Maruti Suzuki Hikes Prices

India’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), has announced a price hike across its entire portfolio. This price change is effective January 27, 2017, and ranges between Rs 1,500 and Rs 8,014 (ex-showroom, Delhi). MSIL says that this price hike was inevitable to balance the increase in commodity, transportation and administrative expenses. The list prices for the Alto and WagonR have gone up by Rs 1,500 and the hot-selling Baleno, which is sold via the company’s Nexa range of dealerships, gets the maximum price hike of Rs 8,014.

Maruti Suzuki has had a commendable 2016, thanks, primarily, to the grand success of the Vitara Brezza. The sub-4 metre SUV was launched in March last year and since then gone on to annihilate all its competitors in the segment. Overall, it is a well thought-out car and its recent achievement of 2 lakh bookings just reaffirms that fact. While all that sounds great for MSIL, the rise in waiting period for the compact SUV and the Baleno hatchback has been a cause of concern. The company plans to address the issue by opening the doors to its brand new production facility in Gujarat, which is expected to go operational in the first quarter of this year.

Maruti Suzuki launched the Ignis hatchback on January 13, 2017. However, bookings for the same had begun on January 1, 2017. It, just like most of the MSIL-produced products in India, has been well received. The Ignis has already bagged over 10,000 bookings and its waiting period is also on the rise. Other MSIL products, which are expected to launch in 2017, includes the facelift of Ciaz, petrol-powered Vitara Brezza, Baleno RS (details of which were recently leaked), and the all-new Swift siblings (hatchback and DZire).