It?s not just fuel that?ll be costly, but the cars you buy, too. Weeks after market leader Maruti Udyog said its cars will be dearer by up to Rs 18,000 across models, it?s Tata Motors turn to follow suit on Monday. The company said it has hiked prices of its passenger vehicles by up to 3% in a bid to offset high raw material costs.
The company saw a 5% decline in passenger car sales in 2007 over the previous year. A price hike could dent its sales volumes further, feel industry observers. Prices of the Indica hatchback and Indigo Marina have been raised by 1 to 2%, while multi-utility vehicle Sumo and sports utility vehicle Safari would cost 2 to 3 more, the company said.
Ravi Kant, MD Tata Motors, had expressed concerns over the current economic environment. In an interview to FE recently, Kant had said, ?We will have to tighten our belt. Some costs have to be passed on to the customers.