Luxury cars’ price tags to get fatter April 1 onwards

Luxury automaker Volvo Car India is planning to increase the prices of its models owing to rising input costs. Other luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz India and Audi India have already announced that they will hike the prices of their vehicles from April 1, 2022.

Volvo Car India currently sells sedans like the S60 and the S90, and SUVs like the XC40, the XC60 and the XC90, in the country.

“Considering the challenges of rising input costs, we are contemplating to increase the price of our models in India,” Jyoti Malhotra, managing director, Volvo Car India, told FE.

However, the company neither disclosed the exact date when the price hike would take place, nor did it share the quantum of the price increase.

“Though it (price hike) looks to be inevitable, we have not yet decided the timeframe. We will announce the price increase as and when we take that decision,” Malhotra said.

Volvo Car India retailed 1,724 units in 2021, logging in a growth of 26.67% over 1,361 units sold in 2020.

There has been a major hike in the prices of commodities, which are used in the automobile industry, due to the Russia-Ukraine war. Over their average prices in the second half of 2021, the prices of aluminium have increased by 48%, palladium by 38%, rhodium by 35%, platinum by 13%, rubber by 28% and copper by 15%.

The country’s largest luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz India and rival brand Audi India will hike the prices of their models by up to 3% from next month owing to high input and logistics costs.

Mercedes-Benz India’s sales increased by 42.43% to 11,242 units in 2021 from 7,893 units in 2020. Audi India reported sales of 3,293 units in 2021, a jump of 101.04% over 1,638 units sold in 2020.