The new Volvo XC60 proves to be a worthy contender, we do a price comparison to check if it’s actually worth the extra premium.
CBU vs CKD Pricing
The luxury SUV market today offers a lot of options to buyers. You get offerings from marques like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW, Volvo and Lexus. While the Germans are brought down to India via the CKD route and assembled locally, Volvo and Lexus directly import their products. Road tax for CBU vehicles come up to over 21 percent of the ex-showroom cost while for CKD models it is approximately 15 percent. So, even if the ex-showroom price seems attractive, there is a huge difference in the on-road prices because of the different tax structure.
At Rs. 55.90 lakhs (ex-showroom), the Volvo XC60 is the most expensive among the list below (because it is sold as a CBU). The SUV draws power from a 2.0-litre diesel motor which produces 235 HP and 480 NM. The engine is mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission with AWD as standard. Lexus announced the prices for its NX300h crossover, the Luxury trim is priced at Rs. 53.18 lakhs while the F-Sport trim is priced at Rs. 55.58 lakhs (both prices, ex-showroom). Since the NX300h prices are in the vicinity of the Volvo’s, it also has been included in the list. The quirky crossover is powered by a 2.5-litre, petrol engine paired with an electric motor which churns out 194 HP of power. The powertrain comes mated to an e-CVT automatic gearbox. Looking at the image below, one can immediately infer that CBUs have a higher road tax as compared to the German CKD models.
The Volvo XC60 comes in only one fully loaded variant – Inscription which gets all the bells and whistles like air suspension, full LED headlamps, hands-free parking, 9-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 360-degree camera, 4-zone climate control, front seats with heating, cooling and massage function and the list goes on. The second most expensive car, the NX300h is also handsomely loaded. Panoramic roof, LED headlights, heated front and rear seats, seat ventilation (front seats only), leather-wrapped steering with paddle shifters and heating function, 10.3-inch infotainment screen and heads-up display are some of the goodies you get. Mind you, the NX300h is a petrol-powered crossover while the rest in the comparison are diesels. BMW X3 and Mercedes GLC are offered in petrol trims as well. Among the diesels, the X3 and Q5 are available in 2 and 3 trims respectively.
The Mercedes GLC petrol comes with a 2.0-litre engine producing 245 HP of power and 379 Nm of torque while the diesel variants get a 2.2-litre engine churning out 170 HP of power and 400 Nm of torque. The BMW X3 and the Audi Q5 are due for an update soon and it remains to be seen how will the new cars be priced. Both the Germans are likely to command a slight premium over the current prices. Given that the updated X3 and the Q5 will not be too steeply priced, the Volvo XC60 is likely to remain the most expensive of the lot. However, Volvo compensates the premium by offering a plethora of features (not to forget the safety features as well). The Swedish carmaker could have posed a serious threat to rivals if it had assembled the XC60 in India.
