Three weeks after warning that it will be forced to increase the prices of its automobiles, Mahindra & Mahindra today said it has implemented a 1.9% increase in the prices of its passenger and commercial vehicles.
This will result in an increase of around Rs 4,000 — for the cheapest vehicle — to Rs 40,000 for the most expensive items such as trucks.
“The price increase was necessitated due to an unprecedented increase in commodity prices and various other input costs over the past many months,” said Veejay Nakra, head of the company’s automotive division.
The price increase is applicable for Thar SUVs that were booked from Dec 1.
“All fresh bookings for All New Thar, effective January 8, 2021, will have prices as applicable on the date of delivery,” the company added.
Last month, M&M had warned that rising commodity prices will force it to increase prices.
Prices of all globally traded assets and commodities — including shares, metals, and art — are on the increase as the US government looks all set to increase the global dollar-supply by trillions of dollars in the next few days.
This because it is soon expected to increase its monthly economic support payment to its citizens from $600 per head to $2000.
This, along with the US Federal Reserve’s continuing purchase of various securities, is expected to increase the supply of dollars in the market, thus driving down the value of the US currency.
As the dollar value falls, the prices of all dollar-denominated assets must rise.
This has led to speculative bets on a rise in global commodity and asset prices, with nearly all metals seeing sharp increases in their prices in international markets.
The price of steel, the most prominent raw material in auto manufacturing, has increased by around 45% since early 2019, forcing all auto manufacturers to announce price increases and real estate players to call for export curbs.
Nakra said M&M made all efforts to reduce the company’s costs and deferred price increase for a significant duration. “But due to the quantum of input cost increase, consequently we are taking this price increase effective January 8, 2021.”
The company has also announced that it will increase tractor prices this month.