Pak-Suzuki Motor hikes car prices after currency devaluation

The Pak-Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC) decided on Thursday to increase the prices of its car variants in the wake of the latest depreciation in the value of Pakistani rupee (PKR) against U.S. dollar.

This is the fifth round of price adjustment this year due to the PKR devaluation, the company said in an announcement.

The company stated that the prices of its different variants including Cultus, Swift, and Wagon-R were increased by 40,000 Pakistani rupees. However, the automaker didn't raise the price of Ravi, Bolan, and Mehran due to the down-trodden sales of these variants.

After the latest round of price increase, the rates of Suzuki Wagon-R VXR were lifted to 1,184,000 Pakistani rupees, Suzuki Wagon-R VXL to 1,274,000 Pakistani rupees, Suzuki Swift DLX to 1,515,000 Pakistani rupees, Suzuki Swift AT to 1,611,000 Pakistani rupees, Suzuki Cultus VXR to 1,380,000 Pakistani rupees, Suzuki Cultus VXL to 1,501,000 Pakistani rupees, and Suzuki Cultus AGS to 1,608,000 Pakistani rupees.

Three major stakeholders of Pakistan's auto industry, including Atlas Honda, Pak-Suzuki, and Indus Motors, have elevated their vehicles' prices more than thrice to overcome the effects of the rising cost of manufacturing and importing cars after the value of Pakistani rupee depreciated against greenback drastically since December last year.

The Pak-Suzuki Motor Company has already raised prices of Mehran, Bolan, and Ravi by 15 percent, 11 percent, and 9 percent respectively this year, whereas prices of Wagon-R were increased by 12-16 percent. However, the sales of Mehran, Bolan, and Ravi have slumped by 23 percent, 21 percent and 34 percent respectively during the July-September quarter this year.