Mahindra Scorpio, Thar and XUV 7XO will be expensive, company preparing to increase rates for the fourth time in a year

New Delhi. If you are dreaming of bringing home a powerful SUV from Mahindra (Mahindra & Mahindra) during the festive season, then there is a shocking news for you. The company is preparing to once again increase the prices of its popular models Thar, Scorpio and XUV 7XO. If the company increases the rates again, it will be the fourth increase in prices within a year.

Mahindra Automotive President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nalinikant Gollaguna said in an interview to PTI that the company has already increased prices thrice in January, April and July this year. SUV prices were increased by about 2.7 percent in July. He said that given the recent rise in commodity prices, the company will decide in the next few weeks whether another increase is needed.

Rate increase has no effect on sales

According to Gollagunta, the recent increase in prices has not had any significant impact on customer inquiries and bookings at present. He said that Mahindra vehicles are still available at lower prices than before the cut in Goods and Services Tax (GST), due to which the demand remains strong. He said that the demand for Mahindra as well as the entire automobile industry is expected to remain strong in the upcoming festive season. He attributed this to reduction in prices after GST cut and change in product portfolio.

Company’s focus on EV

Regarding hybrid technology, Gollaguna said that Mahindra’s main focus is on electric vehicles (EV). He said that if there is a change in the regulatory regime, the company can change its strategy accordingly, but at present, electric transportation is the company’s priority.

Emphasis on increasing production

Regarding the production capacity of the company, he said that Mahindra currently has the production capacity of about 60,000 conventional engine (ICE) vehicles and 8,000 electric vehicles every month.

There are plans to increase ICE capacity to 70,000 and EV capacity to 12,000 vehicles per month by the end of March or beginning of April. In this way the total monthly capacity will reach around 84,000 vehicles. Gollagunta said that the company will introduce many new products with changes in the next two quarters and will launch two new models.