Toyota To Hike Prices By 3% Across Portfolio

Toyota Kirloskar Motor has announced that it will increase the prices of its vehicles by up to three per cent from January 1, 2017, citing an increase in cost of manufacturing and an upward movement of foreign exchange as the reasons behind the hike.

“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,” said the company’s director and senior vice president (marketing and sales), N Raja, in a statement.

Another factor leading to higher input cost is the appreciation of the yen in the international market, which has increased the cost of parts that the company imports from Japan, he added. 

The Japanese carmaker sells a variety of cars in India, ranging from the Liva hatchback to the Land Cruiser 200 premium SUV. While the former starts at Rs 5.39 lakh, the latter goes up to Rs 1.34 crore (both prices ex-showroom Delhi).

"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 against dollar, we have been pressured to increase the cost of our products," he said.

Ahead of the price hike though, the automaker is offering benefits on financing, a special EMI package of Rs 22,999 on select Innova Crysta models and EMI holidays.