Car, bike, CV makers cut prices across range

Barely a few days after Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced an excise duty reduction in the Interim Budget 2014, vehicles makers across the country have announced price cuts of their model range. In the Interim Budget, the excise duty on small cars, motorcycles, scooter and commercial vehicles has been reduced by 4pc from 12pc to 8pc. The excise on large cars has been reduced by 3 pc from 27pc to 24pc and for mid-segment cars by 4pc from 24pc to 20pc. The excise duty on SUVs has been reduced by 6pc from 30pc to 24pc. So, now SUVs and large cars attract a similar excise duty of 24pc.

Leading two wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp has reduced prices across its product portfolio in the range of 2 per cent to 5 per cent with the maximum cut being Rs 4,500 on its Karizma bike.

"We have decided to pass on the entire benefit of the excise duty cut to our customers. We have judiciously spread out the cut across our product portfolio ranging from 2% going up to 5% with the maximum reduction being Rs.4,500," the company said in statement.

Japanese two wheeler maker Honda Motorcycle and Scooter Ltd (HMSI)  has also made its two-wheelers more affordable by cutting its Dream Neo bike by Rs 1,600, and the CBR 250R Rs 7,600.

Industry bigwig Maruti Suzuki cut prices in the range of Rs 8197 to Rs 30,984. The newly launched Celerio has become cheaper by 13,615. The car was launched recently at the 12^th Auto Expo in Greater Noida. Best seller Alto is cheaper by Rs 11784 while the SX4 sedan is cheaper by Rs 30984. The M800 is cheaper by Rs 8197.

Honda Cars India announced a reduction in the price of its models in the range of Rs 14,650 to Rs 44,741. The new prices have been effective from February 19, 2014. Commenting on duty reduction, Jnaneswar Sen, Sr. Vice President Marketing & Sales, Honda Cars India Ltd said, “We welcome this move by the government. The reduction in duty will give the necessary boost to consumer demand and fuel growth in the auto industry. We are happy to pass on the benefit of the duty reduction to our customers.”

 Thus, the Honda Brio new price range is Rs 399,900 – Rs 599,900, while that of the Honda Amaze-         Petrol is Rs 499,900 – Rs 755,000, diesel is Rs 597,500 – Rs 749,500, the new Honda City petrol is Rs 719,000 – Rs 1,080,000, diesel is Rs 837,000 – Rs 1,089,000 and the Honda CR-V is Rs 2,025,000 – Rs 2,436,000.

India’s largest SUV manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra has reduced prices from  Rs 13,000 to Rs 49,000 for its passenger vehicles. The reduction of prices are with immediate effect. The company has also reduced prices of its premium SUV, the Rexton by up to Rs 92,000. Commenting on the price reduction, Pravin Shah, Chief Executive, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. said, “We are delighted at the Interim Budget announcements which have been taken to boost the automotive industry. We are confident that the reduction in prices by Mahindra as well as other auto companies would provide the much needed fillip to the auto industry. The prices of our range of commercial vehicles are also being reduced.”

Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL), the country’s largest passenger car exporter and second largest car manufacturer has announced that it will pass in the full reduction of excise tax benefit to customers in India. The price deduction benefit will be applicable to all the models from Eon to Santa Fe.

Commenting on the passing of the benefit of reduction of excise duty to the customers, Rakesh Srivastava, Sr. Vice President, Sales and Marketing, HMIL said, "The reduction in Excise Duty would substantially reduce the prices, making cars more affordable. The quantum  of benefit will vary from Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 1,35,300/- across all the models. Hyundai Motor India Ltd will extend the benefit of these excise duty cuts to customers with immediate effect & will also support its dealerships suitably.”

German car maker Volkswagen has reduced prices of all its cars in the Indian market. Prices for the Volkswagen Polo have been reduced by Rs 18,000-Rs 31,000. For the Vento, prices have been reduced by Rs 14,500-Rs 27,000. Jetta prices have been reduced by Rs 38,000-Rs 51,000.

“We welcome the Government’s decision to reduce excise duty on cars and we at Volkswagen have decided to pass on the entire benefit to our customers. We hope this move will help improve the market sentiment in the automotive industry,” said Arvind Saxena, Managing Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars. 

Nissan has also passed on 100pc excise tax benefit to its customers in India. The price reduction by Nissan is in the range of 4 – 6pc and applies to  Micra Active, Micra, Sunny, Evalia, Terrano and Teana. The new prices are effective from February 18, 2014.

Announcing the new prices, Kenichiro Yomura, President, Nissan India Operations said, “The reduction in excise duty is a welcome move towards revival of the Indian automobile industry. We at Nissan are happy to pass 100pc of the tax benefits to our customers. We are confident this will make our products more accessible and drive growth across the range.”

Luxury automobile manufactures like Mercedes-Benz and Audi have also cut prices. Earlier, auto makers like General Motors, Toyota Kirloskar and Tata Motors said they would pass on the excise rate cut benefit to customers.