Honda to hike car prices from August as input costs rise: Report

Honda Cars India is reportedly planning to hike prices of all its products offered in the country owing to a sharp increase in input costs. News agency PTI quoted a company official as saying that rising prices of commodities like steel and precious metals is making a price hike necessary.

Rajesh Giel, Honda Cars India Senior Vice President and Director for Marketing and Sales, told PTI that rising input costs are making a price hike necessary. "The prices for raw materials like steel, aluminium and precious metals have increased sharply and many of them are at an all-time high, impacting our input costs significantly," he reportedly outlined. "Our endeavour is to keep the cost of acquisition lower, so we are currently deliberating on how much of the additional cost we can absorb and how much will be inevitable to be passed on to our customers."

A number of OEMs had previously hiked prices for passenger vehicles and two-wheelers citing the same reason, earlier this year. Honda too had increased prices in the month of April and this will be the second such hike. The company's India product portfolio includes the successful Amaze and City sedans, among others.

It isn't yet clear how the hike in prices would affect demand for passenger vehicles, something that has been on an upswing since lockdown restrictions began to be eased. Almost every major OEM reported a bounce back in sales in the month of June but almost every company is also underlining the need to be cautious. Factors such as rising input costs, global shortage in semiconductor chips and the threat of a possible third wave in the country have the potential of once again putting the brakes on the automotive industry which has been weaving through choppy waters for varying reasons since 2019.