KARACHI: As the production of iconic Mehran VXR will be discontinued from next month, Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd (PSMCL) has raised its price by Rs20,000 followed by increase in other models from April 1.

The company had announced the discontinuation of Mehran VXR model in September 2018 while in November it closed down Mehran VX.

At that time, the car assembler had informed its vendors that the company would roll out 19,247 units of Mehran VXR from September 2018 to March 2019 while a total of 4,574 units of Mehran VX would be assembled in the same period.

The new price of Mehran VX and VXR is now Rs799,000 and Rs880,000, showing a jump of Rs10,000 and Rs20,000, respectively.

The new price of Wagon R VXR and VXL has been fixed at Rs 1.264 million and Rs 1.344mn versus Rs 1.224mn and Rs 1.314mn.

Cultus VXR and VXL will carry new price tags of Rs1.440m and Rs1.551m from Rs1.410m and Rs1.531m, while Bolan and Cargo van prices have been increased to Rs874,000 and Rs840,000 from Rs854,000 and Rs820,000.

Ravi, APV, Ciaz MT and Ciaz AT will be available at Rs796,000, Rs3.140m, Rs2.160m and Rs2.300m as compared to Rs776,000, Rs3.040m, Rs2.060m and Rs2.200m respectively.

The new price of Vitara GLX AT and Jimny JLDX is Rs4.090m and Rs2.493m as compared to Rs3.990m and Rs2.393m. The company did not change price of two Suzuki Swift models and Cultus AGS model.

As per new prices of two wheelers effective from April 1, 2019, the new price of GS150, GS150SE and GR150 is Rs165,000, Rs183,000 and Rs249,000 as against Rs162,000, Rs180,000 and Rs243,000, respectively.

The PSMCL, in its letter to its authorised dealers, had not mentioned any reason for jacking up rates for the second time this year. However, the market sources said the rupee devaluation against the dollar was the main reason of price hike.

Bike prices jacked up

N.J. Auto Industries Ltd raised the price of 70cc Scooty by Rs3,000 to Rs60,000 from April 1, 2019, citing rising cost of imported raw material and rubber on account of falling rupee against the dollar.

Road Prince Motorcycle and Rickshaw pushed up price of 150cc Loader by Rs4,000 from April 5.

The auto manufacturers, who claim to achieve higher localisation, had made multiple price hikes from January 2018 till to date on rupee-dollar parity. On Jan 1, 2018, one dollar was equal to Rs110 as compared to current rate of Rs142.

The imports of completely- and semi-knocked down kits (CKD/SKD) of cars during the first eight months of this fiscal year rose to $550m from $512m while that of CKD/SKD kits of two-wheelers jumped to $71m from $69m in the same period.

The FY18 saw a growth of 23pc in import of car parts and accessories to $809m from $660m in FY17. Import of CKD/SKD of bikes went up by 15.5per to $106m in FY18.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2019