Honda raises car prices by up to Rs425,000

Increase comes due to rupee depreciation against dollar

KARACHI: Following the depreciation of the rupee, Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan Limited (HACPL) has once again hiked its vehicle prices in the range of Rs260,000 to Rs425,000 for different models.

“Due to recent rupee devaluation and owing to the negative exchange rate impact, HACPL is compelled to increase the prices of Honda cars with effect from June 24, 2019,” said a company notice issued on Friday.

When the company increased prices last time, the dollar was worth Rs142 and now it had surged to Rs157, resulting in a huge gap, said Topline Securities’ auto analyst Hammad Akram in comments to The Express Tribune.

“All raw material of the sector comes from abroad, therefore, the parts produced locally also face price increase due to the rupee depreciation against the dollar,” said JS Research analyst Ahmed Lakhani.

The company increased prices of Civic Turbo RS and 1.8L VTI CVT models by Rs400,000 each to Rs4.2 million and Rs3.6 million respectively.

Similarly, it raised the price of 1.8L VT SR CVT model by Rs425,000 to Rs3.82 million.

On the other hand, the prices of Honda City 1.3L MT and 1.3L AT were increased by Rs260,000 each to Rs2.18 million and Rs2.32 million respectively.

Honda 1.5L AT model became costlier by 260,000 as its price rose from Rs2.12 million to Rs2.38 million.

Electric vehicles face immense barriers to entry into Pakistan

The price of 1.5L Aspire MT model grew from Rs2.13 million to Rs2.39 million and 1.5L Aspire AT model rose from Rs2.27 million to Rs2.55 million.

On a similar note, the price of BR-V MT increased by Rs305,000 to Rs2.59 million and BR-V CVT by Rs350,000 to Rs2.78 million.

“The company hiked prices massively in one go so that it could not damage its image by increasing prices again and again,” said Lakhani.

It would not be easy for customers of the company to absorb the shock but this would fade out compared to repeated price hikes which were more irksome, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2019.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.