Car sales are woefully slow in India but prices are rising due to new green norms

• Indian car manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra announced that the price of its vehicles would go up by ₹36,000 from July 1.
• The price hike by companies is being attributed to the new safety norms and the BS VI norms followed by the Indian government.
• However, car sales continue to see a decline in India.

In India, car sales have been sliding with almost every other automobile giant reporting a decline in sales in the past few months. However, if you thought that would make cars cheaper, well, think again. Car prices are only rising, thanks to the new safety norms which have been made mandatory.

Automaker Mahindra & Mahindra announced on Wednesday that it would be raising the prices of its personal vehicles by up to ₹36,000 across models from July 1. But the company is not alone.

Maruti Suzuki had already declared a price hike for its new Swift and WagonR. Others like Honda and Tata Motors too have indicated the same.

“Mahindra SUVs that will take a substantial price increase are the Scorpio, Bolero, TUV300 and KUV100 NXT, while brands such as the XUV500 and Marazzo will increase prices marginally,” Mahindra said in its filing as reported by IANS.

The Indian government had announced the Bharat Stage VI norms for emission regulation. The norms will be adopted by April 2020, however companies had said that the adoption will result in a price-hike. According to reports, complying to the norms meant a 10% price hike for cars.

Meanwhile, car sales in India have had a sloppy run in the past few months. In May 2019, passenger car sales declined by 20.5%. One of India’s biggest car manufacturers, Maruti Suzuki had reported a decline by 21% in its car sales for May.

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