Honda plans to hike vehicle prices from August as input costs go up sharply

Japanese automaker Honda plans to increase prices of its entire model range in India from the next month as it looks to offset the impact of a sharp increase in the procurement cost of various essential commodities like steel and precious metals, according to a senior company official.

The company, which sells various models, including City and Amaze, is currently working on the quantum of the increase it would pass on to customers.

"The prices for raw materials like steel, aluminium and precious metals have increased sharply and many of them are at an all-time high, impacting our input costs significantly," Honda Cars India Senior VP and Director (Marketing and Sales) Rajesh Goel told PTI.

The company is currently working out the details of the price hike which would be implemented from August, he added.

"Our endeavour is to keep the cost of acquisition lower, so we are currently deliberating on how much of the additional cost we can absorb and how much will be inevitable to be passed on to our customers. The revised prices will be implemented from next month," Goel noted.

The company had earlier increased prices in April this year.

Steel prices have gone up considerably in the country over the last few months. In June, leading domestic steelmakers had hiked the prices of Hot Rolled Coil (HRC) and Cold Rolled Coil (CRC) by up to Rs 4,000 and Rs 4,900 per tonne, respectively.

HRC and CRC are flat steel products used in industries such as auto, appliances and construction. Hence, any rise in steel prices impacts the prices of vehicles, consumer goods, construction costs.

Besides, the prices of precious metals like rhodium and palladium have almost doubled impacting the production cost.

Rhodium and palladium are used in the catalysers and their demand has gone up manifold due to the introduction of stricter emission norms across the world.

With input cost going up, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) in June announced that it would increase prices of its entire product portfolio in the September quarter. The auto major has already effected a price increase in April.

On April 16, MSI had announced the weighted average price increase of 1.6 per cent in ex-showroom prices of models. On January 18 this year, the automaker had announced a price hike of select models by up to Rs 34,000.