Carmakers struggle with unsold inventory, hike prices

Pune: French car giant Renault, which announced up to 3 per cent price hike from next month, is the latest to join the bandwagon to raise car prices in a bid to sell more cars before the financial year-end to ease high inventory levels with dealerships across the country.

Last week, Tata Motors, the biggest auto maker by revenues and earlier, Toyota Kirloskar Motors, and British luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover had said they would all raise prices from April due to rising input costs.

"The changing market conditions, rising input costs and various external economic factors have compelled us to consider this price increase," Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicles at Tata Motors had said.

Tata Motors has outperformed the industry with a growth of 15 per cent during the April-February period in passenger vehicle sales. However, the growth fell to two per cent in February in line with the rest of the industry.

Auto analysts said that auto companies resort to such tactics during December when retail sales cool off considerably.