Strong dollar pushes four-wheeler prices up
Strengthening of the US dollar against Nepali rupee in recent months has made four-wheelers, especially those imported from third countries, dearer.
Vehicles imported from third countries (other than India) have become expensive by at least Rs 100,000 in the small car segment and by Rs 300,000 to Rs 2 million in case of SUVs and sedans. This is what the current price of some of leading auto brands like Hyundai, Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, Mazda and Mitsubishi shows.
The reason behind the surge in auto price, according to automobile dealers, is the higher amount they have to pay as customs duty while clearing vehicles at customs points. “There has been no change in the customs duty, but the stronger dollar means the amount we pay as the duty has become higher,” said Shekhar Golchha, vice president of the Nepal Automobile Dealers Association (NADA). “Therefore, domestic dealers are compelled to increase the prices.”
The Nepali currency on October 22 had reached a 30-month low against US dollar at Rs 79.81 per dollar.
Laxmi Intercontinental, authorised distributor of Hyundai cars for Nepal, has increased the prices of two Hyundai SUV—Tucson GL and Santa F—by Rs 300,000 each. Both these cars are imported from South Korea.
Mazda’s distributor Padma Shree is another dealer that has upped the price. Prices of Mazda cars have skyrocketed by Rs 200,000 to Rs 300,000, according to Mahesh Dhakal, senior sales and marketing officer at Padma Shree.
Appreciation of Japanese Yen against Nepali rupee is the main reason behind the price rise of Toyota vehicles, says Suraj Vaidya, president of the Vaidya Organisation that imports Toyota vehicles. Toyota’s popular SUV Prado has now become expensive by Rs 2 million.
Similar is the story at Volkswagen whose SUV Touareg is now costlier by Rs 500,000. “We had not changed the price for a long, but the fluctuation in dollar compelled us to do so,” said Sarik Bogati, marketing manager at Pooja International, authorised distributor of Volkswagen. Bogati says apart from the Polo and Vento cars that are imported from India, prices of all other vehicles from the German brand have been revised.
Even the dealers who have not hiked the price so far say their new imports will be costlier. Continental Associates, authorised distributor of Kia, is planning to increase the price in near future. “We have not revised the price so far as we are selling the ones we have in our stock,” said Sachin Aryal, deputy general manager at Continental Associates. “But new vehicles to be imported will cost 10 percent higher.”
According to Mahesh Ghimire, senior manager at Dugar Brothers and Sons that imports Nissan vehicles, the next batch of Nissan four-wheelers will be costlier by Rs 200,000 to Rs 400,000.
Automobile dealers say even the prices of some four-wheelers imported from India have gone up. The prices of Hyundai i10 and i20, Chevrolet and Tata Nano have surged in recent days. “So far, we have not hiked the prices of cars, except Nano, but the pressure for price hike is high,” said an official at Sipradi Trading, distributor of Tata vehicles.
The strengthening of dollar and yen has added to the woes to domestic automobile dealers who have been facing a slowdown in sales since the last fiscal year. The only silver lining is that bookings in recent days have been impressive. “Anticipating a price hike, customers are increasingly coming to us for bookings,” said an automobile dealer.
Brand Price (mid-October) Price (mid-July)
Hyundai Tucson GL (Petrol) Rs 4.69 million Rs 4.29 million
Hyundai Tucson GLS (Diesel) Rs 6.09 million Rs 5.79 million
Hyundai Santa Fe GL Rs 6.39 million Rs 5.99 million
Hyundai Santa Fe GLS with
automatic transmission and Sunroof Rs 7.59 million Rs 7.19 million
Brand Price (mid-October) Price (mid-July)
Chevrolet Cruz 2.0 LT VCDI Rs 5.15 million Rs 4.87 million
Chevrolet Cruz 2.0 LTZ VCDI (MT) Rs 5.74 million Rs 5.5 million
Chevrolet Cruz 2.0 LTZ VCDI (AT) Rs 6.19 million Rs 5.77 million
Brand Price (mid-October) Price (mid-July)
VW Touareg 3.0 diesel automatic
full option 8 - speed AWD Rs 11.4 million Rs 10.9 million
VW Touareg 3.0 diesel automatic
basic 8 - speed AWD Rs 10.3 million Rs 9.9 million
VW Golf 1.6L Petrol Manual
Basic 5-Speed FWD Rs 4.25 million Rs 4.05 million
Brand Price (mid-October) Price (mid-July)
Ford Everest VRAA 2.5L Rs 6.4 million Rs 5.9 million
Ford 901 3.0L AT Rs 6.8 million Rs 6.4 million
All new Fiesta Style Rs 3.59 million Rs 3.5 million
Brand Price (mid-October) Price (mid-July)
Mitsubishi Pajero
2.8LV96WLRXFR 4WD M/T Rs 10 million Rs 9.8 million
Mitsubishi ASX 2.0L
GA2WXTSHZR 4WD A/T Rs 7.3 million Rs 7.1 million
Brand Price (mid-October) Price (mid-July)
Toyota Fortuner KUN51R-PRMDH Rs 8.39 million Rs 7.89 million
Toyota Prado Dual AC KDJ150R-GKEY Rs 15.46 million Rs 13.46 million
No comments:
Post a Comment