Renault India joins Hyundai, Honda, Maruti Suzuki, Kia, Tata to hike car prices

Renault India joined other major automakers in the country to hike car prices. In a statement on Thursday, the car manufacturer said it would raise the prices of its entire range by up to 2 per cent from April 2025, despite raising it once in February.

Renault India became the sixth significant name in the automobile sector to increase prices. On Wednesday, both Hyundai Motor India and Honda Cars India announced their second price hike for the year. Earlier, Maruti Suzuki, Kia India, and Tata Motors also posted that they plan to raise their car prices from April.

Every single automaker blamed “increased input costs” for the increase, stating the same formulaic “we tried to absorb rising costs to maximum possible extent but we now have to pass some burden to the customers”. A few of them also cited increased operational costs.

Among the listed automakers, Maruti Suzuki posted a sales volume jump of 13 per cent to 566,213 units in the last reported quarter (Q3 FY2025), while its total standalone expenses moved up to ₹346,752 million vs ₹301,879 million in the same period last year.

However, for the same quarter, Hyundai India’s total standalone expenses reduced to ₹1,49,661.44 million vs ₹1,50,341.94 million a year ago.

For Tata Motors, total standalone expenses shrank to ₹15,793 crore, compared to ₹17,618 crore in the same quarter last year.

The numbers from the quarter that ended in December 2024 somehow do not bear the same emotion that the automotive industry wants us to feel. It seems that apart from the number one car maker, the others among the listed companies have cut their expenses over the period, forget the “increased input costs”.

The industry has, anyway, come out with a price hike across the board for passenger vehicles.

Renault India Country CEO and MD Venkatram Mamillapalle said, “Despite our best efforts to maintain prices for a long time, the sustained increase in input costs has necessitated this price adjustment.”

Hyundai India Chief Operating Officer Tarun Garg said, “At Hyundai Motor India Ltd, we strive to absorb rising costs to the extent possible, ensuring minimal impact on our customers. However, with the sustained increase in operational expenses, it has now become imperative to pass on a part of this cost escalation through a minor price adjustment.”

Honda Cars India Vice President (Marketing and Sales) Kunal Behl stated that despite the company’s efforts to absorb costs, some price revisions were unavoidable and would be passed on to customers.

Kia India Senior Vice President (Sales and Marketing) Hardeep Singh Brar said, “While we understand that price adjustments can be challenging, this decision has been made to ensure we can continue delivering the high-quality, technologically advanced vehicles that our customers expect from Kia.”