Mahindra & Mahindra weighs SUV price hike amid rising commodity costs

Mahindra & Mahindra is weighing another price increase across its SUV portfolio amid recent commodity price increases, with a decision expected in the next couple of weeks, its Automotive President and CEO, Nalinikanth Gollagunta, said.

In an interview with PTI, Mr. Gollagunta said the company had already taken three price increases this year — in January, April and July, 2026, with the July increase being about 2.7% on sports utility vehicles (SUVs).

“We’re watching it very closely. As you know, we’ve already taken three increases — one in January, one in April, and a fairly significant one in July, about 2.7% on SUVs. That said, it’s something that can be very dynamic, so we continue to watch it,” he said.

“We’ll probably take a call in the next couple of weeks on whether we need a price increase… I can’t say we will or we won’t, but it’s something we’re looking at closely, given the recent price increases on commodities,” Mr. Gollagunta added.

He said recent price increases across the auto industry had not affected customer inquiries or bookings, with vehicles still priced below pre-Goods and Services Tax (GST) levels. “We’re still well below pre-GST prices, so demand continues to be quite intact and robust at this point,” he said.

On the festive season, Mr. Gollagunta said demand should be strong for Mahindra as well as across the industry, helped by prices remaining below pre-GST levels and a refreshed product portfolio.

“We’ve had inflationary pressures, but the reality is the GST price cuts from last year are holding us all well below pre-GST prices, even with the inflationary price increases we’ve made over the past year or so,” he said.

On hybrid technology, Mr. Gollagunta said Mahindra remained focused on electric vehicles (EVs) and would adapt if the regulatory environment changed.

“EV is the end state the country is heading towards, and that’s also what the government has made clear to the industry. If you look at the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) norms, there’s a very clear differentiation between the benefits given to an EV versus a hybrid. So our focus is on EVs to that extent. If the regulatory environment changes, we have the ability to adapt, but at this point our focus is primarily on EVs,” he said.

On capacity, Mr. Gollagunta said Mahindra currently had about 60,000 units of monthly internal combustion engine (ICE) capacity and about 8,000 units of EV capacity, and was largely delivering to those levels.

“The next set of capacity increases will happen at the end of March, early April — the 60,000 ICE capacity will go to 70,000, and the EV capacity of 8,000 will go to 12,000. So, where we are now, we’re at 68,000, and we’ll go to 84,000 in about six months,” he said.

Mr. Gollagunta said the company had several product refreshes and two major launches planned over the next two quarters. “We have about five product refreshes; a few have already happened, and two or three more are coming up. Other than that, we have two major launches coming within the next couple of quarters — that’s also why we’ve added the capacity. We’ll have one major launch on the ICE side and one major launch on the EV side, both happening within the next two quarters,” he said.