Mahindra & Mahindra mulls SUV price hike amid rising commodity costs

Amid the rising commodity costs homegrown auto major Mahindra amp Mahindra has said it is weighing another price increase across its sports utility vehicle SUV portfolio reported news agency PTIWell probably take a call in the next couple of weeks on whether we need a price increase I cant say we will or we wont but its something were looking at closely given the recent price increases on commodities CEO Automotive Division Mahindra Group Nalinikanth Gollagunta told PTIWere watching it very closely As you know weve already taken three increases one in January one in April and a fairly significant one in July about 27 per cent on SUVs That said its something that can be very dynamic so we continue to watch it he addedPrice hike not affected demandAuto makers have been grappling with the higher input costs and passenger vehicle segment has witnessed multiple rate hikes this year Car makers such as Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles have undertaken multiple price hikes in the recent monthsHowever Gollagunta said the recent price increases across the auto industry have not affected customer inquiries or bookings as the vehicles are still priced below preGST levelsWere still well below preGST prices so demand continues to be quite intact and robust at this point Gollagunta saidMahindra amp Mahindra had reported a 42 per cent jump in total vehicle sales to 107648 units in August compared with the same month last year driven by SUV salesHe expects a strong demand during the festive season for both the company and the industry supported by prices remaining below preGST Goods and Services Tax levels and a refreshed product portfolioFestive should be very good for us and across the industry for a couple of reasons Weve had inflationary pressures but the reality is the GST price cuts from last year are holding us all well below preGST prices even with the inflationary price increases weve made over the past year or so he saidElectric vehiclesThe company remains focused on electric vehicles EV given the benefits but would adapt if the regulatory environment changes according to GollaguntaWere very clear in our minds EV is the end state the country is heading towards and thats also what the government has made clear to the industry If you look at the CAFE Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency norms theres a very clear differentiation between the benefits given to an EV versus a hybrid So our focus is on EVs to that extent If the regulatory environment changes we have the ability to adapt but at this point our focus is primarily on EVs he sharedCapacity expansion and 2 new launchesOn capacity Gollagunta said the company will increase its vehicle capacity by approximately 14000 by March or AprilMahindra currently has about 60000 units of monthly ICE internal combustion engine capacity and about 8000 units of EV electric vehicle capacity and is largely delivering to those levelsThe next set of capacity increases will happen at the end of March early April The 60000 ICE capacity will go to 70000 and the EV capacity of 8000 will go to 12000 So where we are now were at 68000 and well go to 84000 in about six months he saidMahindra amp Mahindra has planned two major launches over the next two quarters and plans a couple of product refreshesWell have a set of refreshes coming Some of this weve already talked about We have about five product refreshes a few have already happened and two or three more are coming up Other than that we have two major launches coming within the next couple of quarters Thats also why weve added the capacity Well have one major launch on the ICE side and one major launch on the EV side both happening within the next two quarters he saidWith inputs from PTI