Honda to hike car prices by up to 2% from April

Says price hike to offset cost of on-board diagnostics compliance and freight increase

Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) will increase prices of its vehicles across models by up to 2% from April to offset cost of OBD (on-board diagnostics) compliance and freight increase.

"We are increasing car prices from April 1, 2013 by an amount of up to 2%. The details are still being worked out," a company official said.

The increase in prices will be primarily on account of OBD compliance effective from April 1, 2013 and freight increase, the official added.

At present the company sells hatchbacks Brio and Jazz, sedans - City, Civic and Accord - and sports utility vehicle CR-V, with prices ranging from Rs 4.1 lakh to Rs 27.38 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) across the models.

The price hike comes at a time when the company is witnessing a decline in sales in a tough market. HCIL had reported 26.49% decrease in its domestic sales for February 2013 at 6,510 units as against 8,856 units in the same month last year.

HCIL is slated to introduce its much-awaited entry-level sedan Amaze in April, which will be the company's first diesel offering in India.