This week in auto: New launches light up the new year but be ready to pay more for your car

The week saw multiple new launches as car companies got busy in the new year, looking for a fresh start after the coronavirus pandemic that hit the auto industry hard, forcing almost every company to hike prices. More on this later, take a look at what else made headlines during the week:

Mercedes-Benz launches S-Class Maestro, Audi launches new A4

With the Mercedes-Benz S-Class set for a departure this year, the company has decided to give it one last edition, the Maestro Edition.

German luxury carmaker Audi on January 5 launched the new version of its popular sedan A4 in India, with prices starting at Rs 42.34 lakh (ex-showroom).

Toyota launches new Fortuner

Toyota Kirloskar Motors has launched the facelifted version of the Fortuner with prices starting at Rs 29.98 lakh, which is Rs 1.32 lakh more than the outgoing model. The top-end Fortuner is priced at Rs 37.43 lakh. All prices ex-showroom pan India except Kerala.

Toyota has added a new version of the Fortuner called Legender. Priced at Rs 37.58 lakh, the Legender is essentially a sportier version of the Fortuner but is powered by the same diesel engine as the Fortuner.

Tata Motors reintroduces Safari brand

Tata Motors has rebranded the upcoming seven-seater Harrier as Tata Safari after having scrapped the old name Gravitas. The SUV is set to go on sale in the last week of January.

With this change, Tata Motors has brought the Safari brand back into its portfolio after 14 months. The Mumbai-based company stopped the production of the Safari Storme in late 2019.

India to fall short of E2W sales

Only 3 percent of the 1 million electric two-wheelers targeted by the government under an incentive scheme launched in 2019 have been sold so far this year, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), said.

Phase 2 of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME 2) scheme launched by the government in April 2019 envisages cumulative sales of 1 million electric two-wheelers by March 2022

MG launches new Hector, BMW launches Mini 3-door

MG Motor India on January 7 launched the seven-seater version of its popular SUV Hector priced between Rs 13.35 lakh and Rs 18.33 lakh (ex-showroom), as it enhanced its product portfolio to sell 50,000 vehicles in the country this year.

German luxury carmaker BMW said on the same day it launched a special edition of MINI three-door hatchback in India priced at Rs 41.7 lakh (ex-showroom).

Mahindra, Mercedes hike prices

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on January 8 announced a hike in prices of its range of personal and commercial vehicles by around 1.9 percent with immediate effect.

Premium carmaker Mercedes-Benz India said it is hiking its car prices by 5 percent from January 15, owing to the currency depreciation and increasing input costs that had pushed up the overall production cost.

Robust demand which has continued into the new year has empowered car makers to carry out hikes across segments. In addition to M&M and Mercedes-Benz, Maruti Suzuki, Renault, Volkswagen, Nissan and Hyundai, too, have raised prices.

Carmakers blame a variety of reasons for increasing the prices, including depreciation in the rupee, rise in commodity rates, price hikes by parts manufacturers and increased logistics costs.

Though fuel prices are touching new highs every day, the need for personal transport and rock bottom auto finance rates are pushing demand for new cars. The surge has come on the back of a reduction in vehicle discounts.

Carmakers are operating their factories at full capacity as demand continues to outstrip supply. About half a dozen models such as Mahindra Thar, Hyundai Venue, Hyundai Creta, Hyundai i20, Kia Sonet, Maruti Suzuki Swift have a waiting period ranging from a few weeks to 10 months.