Toyota to hike prices of some cars from April onwards, more details inside

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) on Friday said it will increase prices of some of its products from next month in order to offset rise in input costs.

“We have been absorbing additional costs through a bouquet of cost reduction measures including refinement in production process. However, considering the trend of continuous increase, we are constrained to pass on a small portion to the customers,” TKM Deputy Managing Director N Raja said in a statement.

The company will continue its efforts to contain costs and offer the best value to its loyal customers, he added. TKM, however, did not disclose the models that would become costlier. The company sells a range of products including popular multi-purpose vehicle Innova and premium sports utility vehicle Fortuner.

Recently, Japanese carmaker Toyota slashed its full-year net profit forecast after profits tumbled nearly 30 percent in the first nine months. The maker of the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid now expects annual net profit of 1.87 trillion yen ($17 billion) instead of 2.3 trillion yen it projected three months ago.

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The new forecast represents a 25-percent plunge from the last year. Its net profit for the nine months to December came to 1.42 trillion yen, down 29.3 percent from the same period the previous year. Operating profit rose 9.5 percent to 1.94 trillion yen on sales of 22.5 trillion yen, an increase of 3.1 percent.

Fellow Japanese automaker Honda last week logged a net-profit fall of 34.5 percent for the nine months to December but revised up its full-year forecasts thanks to strong motorcycle sales.

(with inputs from PTI)