Nissan says it's raising some Japan prices

TOKYO—Hit by soaring steel and other material costs, Nissan announced price hikes in Japan Friday for some commercial vehicle models but held back from increases on its more crucial passenger car offerings.

Nissan Motor Co., Japan's third-biggest automaker, had been considering raising domestic prices for some time because of the soaring costs of steel and other raw materials that have battered all the world's automakers.

Earlier this week, Toyota, the country's biggest auto company, raised prices in Japan for its Prius and Harrier gas-electric hybrids, as well as some commercial models-- the first hike here without a model makeover in three decades.

Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn had said he hoped to take a cue on price hikes from market leader Toyota Motor Corp. But Tokyo-based Nissan lacks comparable hybrid offerings in Japan.

Raising prices these days is also widely seen as risky partly because the Japanese market has been sluggish.

Nissan, which makes the March subcompact and Z sports car, said price hikes for passenger cars were still under consideration, but the company was still closely watching its rivals and consumer needs before it makes a decision.

Nissan will raise prices on several of its light commercial vehicles in Japan an average of 2.2 percent, effective Oct. 1, including Atlas H43 and Caravan, it said in a statement.

Toyota's new prices showed an average increase of 3 percent for the two gas-electric hybrid models, and an average 2 percent for several commercial vehicles.

The last time Nissan raised prices on Japan commercial vehicle models without a major model makeover was in 1992, according to Nissan.

The last time both Toyota and Nissan ever raised prices on passenger models without such remodeling was in 1974, in the wake of what is known here as the first "oil shock," when crude prices skyrocketed.

Japanese automakers have averted some of the serious troubles of its U.S. rivals General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., but shrinking U.S. auto demand, the global credit crunch and a jump in gas prices are starting to hurt even the more profitable Japanese manufacturers.