Many prospective buyers expected an increase in car prices and brought their dream set of wheels last month, that is the reason the automobile industry showed good sales figure in February (read about it here). The Government of India announced the 2012-13 Union Budget today and although there was relief for prospective diesel car buyers and diesel car manufacturers, the FM did not spare the automobile industry and has gone ahead and hiked the excise duty by 2% on small cars (less than 4 meters in length and less than 1.5-litre in capacity for diesel, less than 1.2-litre capacity for petrol). Cars having an engine capacity between 1.2 to 1.5-litre have an additional capacity of 2%, while all other vehicles (excluding the ones mentioned above) have received a 3% hike. The duty hike of 15% has been done on completely built units (CBUs) so in all, buying a car is now more expensive. How expensive? Well almost every automobile company has released statements of the price hike, which is effective immediately. We are giving you the spectrum of price hike below.
Toyota – Rs. 9500/- to Rs 80,000/- (between Rs. 9500 – Rs. 13600 on the Etios twins, Rs. 26500 on the Corolla diesel, Rs. 39000 on the Corolla diesel, Rs. 35,200 on the Innova and Rs. 80,000 on the Fortuner)
Mahindra – Rs. 3000 to Rs. Rs. 35,000/- (XUV500)
Tata Motors – Rs. 3000 – Rs. 75,000/-
Mercedes-Benz – Rs. 1,50,000 (C-Class) – Rs. 3,00,000/- (S-Class)
Maruti Suzuki – Rs. 4000 – Rs. 70,000/-
Honda – Rs. 4000 – Rs. 70,000/-
General Motors – Rs. 3500 – Rs. 80,000/-
Hyundai – Rs. 4000 – Rs. 85,000/- (average price hike on the Verna is Rs. 11,000/-)
Bikes will be expensive by 2% (Rs. 500 – 3500/-)
(The above prices are rough estimates and will be updated shortly with accurate changes).
