Cars to get expensive from January 2025 as OEMs announce price hikes

NEW DELHI: Prices of various car models - ranging from entry-level hatchbacks to high-end luxury offerings - are set to rise as automakers have announced price hikes with effect from January.

Carmakers cite an increase in input costs and operational expenses as the main reason to implement price increases from the next month.

Industry experts, however, note that the exercise is also undertaken by automakers every year in December to shore up sales volume in the last month of the year, as customers postpone buyouts to later months to get the new year manufactured units.

“We have seen a few cycles of price increase in India. It happens at the beginning of the calendar year and financial year, but few OEMs pick the timing based on their planned launches as well,” Deloitte India Partner Rajat Mahajan said. While there could be multiple factors for the price increase, the key one is due to a decline in profitability of a few large auto OEMs in the second quarter, he added.

“Due to the festive season, the price revisions were not done. Hence, this is expected at the beginning of Q4.

“Rising input costs of few materials, shifting consumer preferences on advanced features but a low willingness to pay, clubbed with the pressure of supporting dealers to offset high inventory carrying costs despite high festive discounts are putting a burden on profitability,” said Mahajan.

Icra VP & sector head - corporate ratings Rohan Kanwar Gupta said automakers generally take a price increase at the start of the calendar year to help offset factors like the increase in operational costs.