Tata Motors to hike passenger vehicle prices by up to 2.2% from August

The company, which had increased prices in April by 3 per cent, expects sales momentum to continue despite the hike

A worker cleans a Tata Motors vehicle inside a showroom in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad November 9, 2010. India's Tata Motors Ltd on Tuesday said quarterly profit soared, topping forecasts, on robust sales in its home market. The company, India's largest truck and bus maker, reported a consolidated net profit of 22.23 billion rupees ($502 million) for the fiscal second quarter ended September 30, from 220 million rupees in the year-ago quarter. REUTERS/Krishnendu Halder (INDIA - Tags: TRANSPORT BUSINESS)

Tata Motors on Tuesday said it will hike prices of its passenger vehicles across models by up to 2.2 per cent from August to offset increased input costs.

The company, which had increased prices in April by 3 per cent, however, said it expected sales momentum to continue despite the hike.

“We have been working on cost cutting, but the problem of input cost pressure is piling up and we will be taking a price increase on our passenger vehicles by August,” Tata Motors President Passenger Vehicles Business Unit Mayank Pareek told PTI.

He further said the company had taken a price hike in April but the input costs continue to rise, mostly on account of increased commodity prices.

When asked by how much the company will increase the prices, he said, “Roughly it will be 2 per cent to 2.2 per cent.” This will be over and above the 3 per cent increase in April, Mr. Pareek added.

“The price hike will be across all models, although quantum will depend upon specific models,” he added.

Tata Motors currently sells a range of vehicles starting from entry level small car Nano to premium SUV Hexa with price ranging from ₹2.36 lakh to ₹ 17.89 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

When asked if the proposed price hike will impact sales, he replied in the negative, “What we achieved in quarter one was despite the price hike we undertook in April. So we are confident of maintaining the sales momentum.”

Mr. Pareek further said, “In the last 28 months we have been outperforming the market. In this year’s quarter one, while the industry grew 13.1 per cent, we have grown by 52 per cent.”