Mass effect of the 2012 Indian Fiscal Budget on automakers

Well that didn't take too long. Now that the Indian fiscal budget for 2012 - 2013 has been formally announced, several carmakers, Volvo, Skoda, Honda and Audi announced a price increase across the entire range. And it's steep. While Honda cars will see its prices go up by Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 94,000, Audi has hiked prices of its imported cars by 13 to 14 percent and those produced locally by 3.4 to 3.7 percent. Volvo hiked its prices across the board by a little under 3 percent (Rs. 1 Lakh to Rs. 1.3 Lakhs) while Skoda has increased its prices between 2.2 and 5.1 percent. The price hikes have been made effective immediately.

The new prices of Honda's entry level car Brio will be hiked between Rs. 4,000 and Rs. 10,000, while the prices of the premium compact car Jazz will go up between Rs. 14,970 and Rs. 15,000. The City's price gets hiked between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 10,500, while the Civic prices go up between Rs. 36,600 and Rs. 45,800. And finally the top of the range Accord gets the biggest jump with the prices getting bumped up by Rs. 67,500 and Rs. 93,975 depending on your trim level.

The import customs duty for fully built models like the Audi A7, A8L and RS5 has been hiked from 60 percent to 75 percent. You the consumer will see the effect of this change with the A7 starting off at Rs. 66 Lakhs and the RS5 starting at almost Rs. 86 Lakhs. The models that are built within India (like the A4, A6 and Q5) will see price increases in the range of 3.4 to 3.7 percent (due to the increase in excise duty from 22 percent to 27 percent).

The S60 sedan will be available for Rs. 25 Lakhs, while the S80 starts off at Rs. 28 Lakhs. Similarly the SUV XC60 will be available at Rs. 35.25 Lakhs. On the Skoda front, the Fabia will start at Rs. 4.60 Lakhs, while the Rapid will now be available for Rs. 6.90 Lakhs. The premium sedan Laura will now start at Rs. 12.90 Lakhs and the mini-SUV Yeti will start off at Rs. 13.90 Lakhs. Skoda's flagship sedan Superb will also see a price increase and will begin at Rs. 19.60 Lakhs.

Stay tuned, something tells us the other automakers will also join in pretty shortly.

Update (3/26/2012): Maruti has also announced that the price across the range will be hiked by up to Rs. 17,000. The Alto (800 cc) will cost between Rs. 4,200 and Rs. 5,900 more. The price of the Alto K10 has been increased by Rs 5,500 to Rs 5,700. Cost of the Wagon R will now be bumped up between Rs. 6,000 and Rs. 7,600. The Swift starting price will will be increased by Rs. 7,700 to Rs. 11,900. The new Swift Dzire will be more expensive by Rs. 8,500 to Rs. 12,700. And the mid-sized sedan SX4 will now cost Rs 9,400 to Rs 17,000 more.