What's behind Maruti Suzuki's latest price hike
What's the story
India's largest automaker, Maruti Suzuki, has announced a price hike of up to ₹30,000 across its entire range of vehicles. The decision comes in the wake of rising input costs due to the ongoing West Asia crisis. The company had been delaying the price hike for as long as possible but has now decided to pass on some of these costs to customers.
Cost-cutting measures
Rising input costs prompt price hike
Maruti Suzuki has been trying to mitigate the impact of rising costs with various cost-cutting measures.
However, the company said that high input cost inflation and a difficult cost environment left it with no choice but to pass on some of the additional burden while keeping the increase as low as possible.
This is not the first time Maruti Suzuki has spoken about rising costs.
Upcoming models
New Brezza model launched alongside price hike
Along with the price hike, Maruti Suzuki also unveiled its new Brezza model, starting at ₹7.39 lakh.
The car comes with two updated powertrain options: an S-CNG Turbo variant and a refined K15 engine.
The company is also banking on the new Brezza model to strengthen its position in the highly competitive compact SUV market.
EV expansion
EV charging infrastructure expanded to nearly 12,000 chargers
On the electric vehicle front, Maruti Suzuki is expanding its charging infrastructure to promote EV adoption.
The company has installed nearly 12,000 chargers across India for e-Vitara customers.
Maruti Suzuki will continue its multi-pathway strategy by offering different powertrain technologies across vehicle segments instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.
The company is also investing more in digitization and artificial intelligence (AI) through a dedicated digital vertical.