Auto buyers saw unprecedented price hikes in PDM regime

Amid a slump in demand, assemblers have made a steep rise in the prices of vehicles in the last 16 months despite persistent grilling by the Sub-Committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on various issues hurting consumers’ interest. The rupee has shed its value against the dollar by 58pc in the PDM tenure from Rs182.93 on Aug 11, 2022 to Rs289 on Aug 9, the day Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif left the office. However, price increases in various models are on par with the drop in rupee value despite higher localisation. In many costly variants, the price hikes are far steeper due to low localisation. It suggests that the rupee depreciation plays a key role in pushing up the landed cost of imported parts and accessories costlier, thus exposing low and high levels of localisation by the assemblers. A price survey revealed that Honda City manual transmission 1.2L, CVT, 1.5L CVT and ASP CVT 1.5L now costs Rs4.799 million, Rs4.929m, Rs5.549m and Rs5.979m as compared to Rs3.219m, Rs3.249m, Rs3.446m and Rs3.749m when the PDM regime took to power.