Dealers of vehicles manufactured in third countries have attributed the rise in price to weakening of Nepali rupee vis-à-vis US dollar that has made imports expensive. [break]Local dealers of Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford and Geely increased the price of the vehicles from May-end, while Hyundai is planning to increase the price very soon.
Earlier the automobile dealers have made upward revision in prices in mid-February citing the same reason.
“We have increased the price of Volkswagen vehicles that are imported from Germany by 3 to 13.6 percent due to strengthening of US dollar that raised our import costs. However, prices of vehicles imported from India have remained unchanged,” said Bibek Bijukchhen, general manager of Pooja International Nepal that represents Volkswagen in Nepal.
Go Automobiles - the authorized dealer of Ford vehicles in Nepal -- has also increased the price of Everest and Ranger that are imported from Thailand. It has kept prices of vehicles manufactured in India unchanged. “We have increased the price of Everest and Ranger by 3 to 10 percent, depending on the model, in line with the rise in import cost,” said Dipesh Shakya, marketing manager at Go Automobiles.
Chinese car brand Geely has also become dearer in the Nepali market. Saakha & Universal Automobiles -- the sole authorized distributor of Geely four-wheelers in Nepal -- has increased the price of Geely cars by Rs 40,000 to Rs 140,000, depending on the models.
“We have increased the price of low-end Panda LC by Rs 40,000 while the price of -higher-end MK series has been raised by Rs 140,000,” said Prabal Saakha, managing director of Saakha Group - the parent company of Saakha & Universal Automobiles.
Toyota cars have also seen price rise. Unites Traders Syndicate that represents the Japanese auto major in Nepal has increased prices by 5-7 percent.
Korean automaker Hyundai is planning to raise prices in the near future. “Though import costs have increased, we have not increased the price so far as we have some vehicles in stock. But we will raise the price once we run out of stock,” said Rupesh Sharma Bhatta, senior manager-business development and planning at Laxmi Intercontinental - the dealer of Hyundai in Nepal.
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