Toyota Kirloskar Motor to hike vehicle prices by up to 3% in January 2017

Toyota Kirloskar Motor has announced plans to hike vehicle prices by up to 3% effective from January 1, 2017.

The company says the decision is in line with the general industry trend due to the increasing cost of manufacturing vehicles and a consistent upward trend in foreign exchange rates.

Commenting on the planned price hike, N Raja, director and senior vice-president (Marketing and Sales), Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said: “There has been an increase in pricing of raw material commodities like steel, aluminum, copper and rubber over a period of the last six months and this puts a lot of pressure on us as all this has been leading to a higher input cost on our end. Another factor leading to higher input cost in our case is the appreciation of yen in the international market which has increased the cost of parts that we import from Japan.

“We do a periodic review of the prices of our products basis the above factors and take necessary actions. We have been absorbing all the additional costs till now, thereby protecting our customers from the price increase. However, owing  to continued pressure of high costs and foreign exchange rates remaining at high levels of above Rs 68 versus the US dollar, we have been pressured to increase the cost of our products.”

Toyota has recorded growth of over 10% in domestic sales in November 2016 as a result of strong customer demand for the recently launched new Fortuner SUV. The other new launches in 2016, the Innova Crysta and the new Platinum Etios have also received a good market response.