Nissan may hike car prices in India. Demand has been soaring in India and China but the rising steel prices have made it impossible to keep the price under control. According to Carlos Ghosn, "All car manufacturers will increase prices. It's a question of time. How can you not increase prices if the price of raw materials goes up 100 percent?"
Recently, largest steel maker of China, Baosteel, has agreed to pay double the prices for iron ore to Australia's largest iron ore mining company, Rio Tinto. This means that steel prices would remain high in near future. Steel producers have decided to pass on the price hike to the auto makers. Nissan has already hiked its car prices in United States and Europe especially on large trucks and sport utility vehicles. It shall soon announce the hike in Japan as well.
Ghosn also stated that future of oil price still remains uncertain which makes its all the more difficult to predict the auto scenario. Car makers like Nissan are relying heavily on emerging economies like Brazil, India, China, etc. for marking profits in the financial books. Russia tends to remain the hottest market for them. "We intend to take full advantage of growth in emerging markets," he said.
He also added that the company is also eyeing electric vehicles with zero emission which promise to be future vehicles instead of hybrid cars.
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