KARACHI: The prices of passenger cars have witnessed a sharp increase of up to 15 percent since the start of November 2021. Although the auto assemblers have attributed the recent price hike to rupee depreciation, high raw materials, and import cost, the market sources termed it as 'considerably high,' saying that the price hike should have been not more than 5 percent.

Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited (PSMCL) has increased its prices up to 15 percent. The company has increased the prices of Alto VX, Alto VXR, and Alto VXL by Rs. 161000, Rs. 173000 and Rs. 183000, respectively, depicting a 12 to 15 percent increase. Similarly, the prices of Wagonr and Cultus variants have witnessed a sharp increase of around 15 percent.

The Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Limited, which has already increased its prices up to 5 percent, has announced a further price hike up to 10 percent by January 2022. The company, which has increased the prices by Rs. 2729000 to Rs. 5049000 on its variants this month will further jack up prices by Rs130000 to Rs. 485000 on its different models by next year.

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The KIA Lucky Motors has surged its prices by Rs. 269000 to Rs. 380000 on its different models, depicting up to 15 percent increase. The price surge in the variants Indus Motor Company (IMC) has been observed up to 5 percent.

Meanwhile, market sources said that auto assemblers except IMC have extended the delivery time up to 150 days (five months), following the shortage of semiconductors that forced the auto manufacturers to reduce their productions globally.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021