Truck prices moving north

Commercial vehicle makers including Tata Motors, Volvo and Ashok Leyland have hiked or are considering raising prices of trucks by up to four per cent this month to offset rising input costs, even as the segment saw return of demand.

Leading automaker Tata Motors has increased prices of all heavy vehicles (16 tonnes and above) and some models in the lower tonnage (3.5-7 tonnes) by one per cent from this month.

Volvo Trucks India has hiked prices by 3-4 per cent. "Prices have gone up on account of high input costs especially, steel and rubber," Volvo Trucks India President Somnath Bhattacharjee said at the 10th Auto Expo here.

Bhattacharjee, who is also on the board of Volvo-Eicher JV, added that prices of Eicher products too have been increased by two per cent for the same reasons.

Hinduja Group-promoted Ashok Leyland said it will hike prices of its commercial vehicles before March this year.

Ashok Leyland MD R Seshayee said there has been a surge in demand of commercial vehicles in the last two quarters and the company expected to close this fiscal at a total sales of about 62,000-63,000 units.

Commercial vehicles makers, who last year were forced to shut operations temporarily to cut operating costs, saw sales turn positive in August 2009. Sales jumped over 130 per cent in November last year.

Prices of steel, a major input, have gone up by about $60-80 to over $550 a tonne in the past two months due to rise in demand and increase in input cost.