Buying a Honda Brio or an Amaze? Be prepared to pay more

Honda Cars India on Monday increased prices of its vehicles by up to Rs 60,000 following the expiry of reduced excise duty concessions and also to offset rising input costs.

The company has raised the prices of its entry level car Brio in the range of Rs 15,000 to Rs 18,000 and it will now cost between Rs 4,21,000 and Rs 6,30,000 (all prices ex- showroom Delhi).

Prices of compact sedan Amaze have been hiked in the range of 19,000 to Rs 26,000 and it will now be available for Rs 5,18,000 to Rs 7,78000.

The prices of petrol version of the compact sedan have been increased in the range of Rs 19,000-Rs 23,000 while diesel powered models would get expensive by Rs 23,000- Rs 26,000, the company said. Honda's flagship mid-sized sedan City will be dearer by up to Rs 48,000.

The prices of petrol variants of the car have gone up by Rs 33,000 to Rs 46,000, while the diesel variants have become expensive in the range of Rs 37,000 to Rs 48,000. The model is now priced between Rs 7.53 lakh and Rs 11.53 lakh.

The company has also hiked the price of its premium sports utility vehicle CR-V by 60,000 and will now be available between Rs 20,85,000 and Rs 24,96,000.

An official of Honda Cars India said the company is still working on the quantum of price hike for its multi purpose vehicle Mobilio.

The move follows the government not extending excise duty concessions given to the auto industry and consumer durables sectors after the expiry on December 31, 2014.

The government had extended the excise duty concessions by 6 months in June continuing the previous UPA government's decision to cut excise duty on cars, SUVs, two-wheelers and consumer durables in the interim Budget in February, 2014. The excise duty on small cars, scooters, motorcycles and commercial vehicles was reduced to 8 per cent from 12 per cent previously.

For SUVs, it was cut to 24 per cent from 30 per cent; for mid-sized cars, to 20 per cent from 24 per cent and to 24 per cent for large cars, from 27 per cent.

In December, Maruti Suzuki India said it would hike prices of its models in the range of 2-4 per cent from this month, while Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra had also announced plans to increase prices in the range of 1-2 per cent citing higher input costs.

German luxury car maker BMW also said it would raise product prices in India by up to 5 per cent with effect from the first week of January.

General Motors India had also announced a price hike by up to Rs 20,000 from January in order to partially offset rising input costs.