The automakers have been scrambling to get their ball rolling once again, after seeing a brief hiatus in production and sales due to COVID-19, and a huge slump in revenues as a result, but Honda Atlas cars seems to have gone into a state of utter panic.
In the latest, rather unfortunate, development, Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan have just gone on to increase the prices of their cars for the third time within just 6 months. Also, these price bumps are not slight by any means what so ever.
The price bumps go from Rs. 60,000 to a massive Rs. 100,000, bringing their lowest-priced car (Honda City 1.3 manual) to be Rs. 2,499,000 and their most expensive car (Civic Turbo RS) to 4,699,000, which puts it there with the new, mid-tier Kia Sportage variant.
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Here’s a list of the revised prices for all of Honda cars, that shall take effect from 10th of August, 2020:
| Cars | Old Price (PKR) | Revised Price (PKR) | Increase (PKR) |
| Civic Turbo RS | 4,599,000 | 4,699,000 | 100,000 |
| Civic Turbo Oriel | 4,349,000 | 4,449,000 | 100,000 |
| 1.8 VT SR CVT Automatic | 3,899,000 | 3,979,000 | 80,000 |
| 1.8 VTI CVT Automatic | 3,649,000 | 3,729,000 | 80,000 |
| City 1.3 Manual | 2,389,000 | 2,449,000 | 60,000 |
| City 1.3 Automatic | 2,574,000 | 2,639,000 | 65,000 |
| City 1.5 Manual | 2,459,000 | 2,529,000 | 70,000 |
| City 1.5 Automatic | 2,629,000 | 2,699,000 | 70,000 |
| City Aspire 1.5 Manual | 2629,000 | 2,699,000 | 70,000 |
| City Aspire 1.5 Automatic | 2,789,000 | 2,859,000 | 70,000 |
| BR-V Manual | 3,079,000 | 3,159,000 | 80,000 |
| BR-V CVT Automatic | 3,239,000 | 3,319,000 | 80,000 |
| BR-V S CVT Automatic | 3,399,000 | 3,479,000 | 80,000 |
With the depletion of the local currency, it is understandable if an automaker has to make some changes in their marketing strategy or even pricing for that matter. The problem with Honda Atlas and other dominant automakers of Pakistan is that they keep on raising the price, without a single enhancement in the product range or quality.
The rest of the world is about to get the 7th gen City and we are still 2 generations behind on that car after 10 years, with its price going from well below 2 million Rupees to now almost 2.5 million Rupees which is unjustifiable for a car that is now a museum piece.
This tactic is not at all going to help Honda get more sales. Let us hope they come to their senses once they realize the recklessness of their pricing strategy.
