Tata Motors hikes car prices; Nano and Aria prices unchanged!

Tata Motors Limited has hiked prices of all cars barring the Nano hatchback and the Aria Crossover on the back of rising input costs. Though a price hike was expected within the first few days of 2012, Tata had managed to hold on to hiking prices of its cars until the second week of February. Now though, the third largest car maker in India has increased prices of all its cars between INR 7,000 to INR 12,000, except the Nano and Aria, whose prices remain unchanged.

Tata Safari Storme at 2012 New Delhi Auto Expo

This price hike is effective from the 9th of February, 2012, and Tata dealers across the country, have been notified of the same. Here’s official word from Tata Motors’ spokesperson regarding the price hike,

The high input costs have been impacting us for quite some time. We have decided to pass on some burden to our customers. The quantum of the hike will vary between Rs 7,000 and Rs 12,000 depending on the model. The price hike has been effected since yesterday.

Both the Nano hatchback and the Aria Crossover haven’t performed as well as Tata Motors would have wanted to, at the hustings. This has made Tata adopt an aggressive sales promotion policy on both the cars. Sizable discounts are being offered on both the Nano and the Aria at the dealership level and this has led to an increase in sales of both these cars.

For instance, both the Nano and the Aria registered significant growth of numbers in January 2012, a month in which Tata Motors edged out South Korean automaker Hyundai to become the second largest automaker in India in terms of monthly sales. The next big launch from Tata Motors is the Safari Storme SUV, which Tata showcased at the 2012 Auto Expo, and which will compete with the best selling Mahindra XUV500 crossover.

Source: ICB