There's no doubt that all cars in India cost a lot more than they do abroad, chiefly due to the Government's tax system, but the point is that up to a point, some cars are fairly good VFM. For instance, the Accords, Mondeos, Sonatas, Octavias are not priced all that much above what they would cost in a country like the UK.
Then suddenly you have companies like BMW and Mercedes totally buggering-up the prices of cars by charging HUGE premiums for what are very ordinary, entry-level exec saloons. To be honest, there's no way a 325i is worth more than 28-29 lakhs, even considering the taxes, duties et al, but look at what they are charging for it. It's simple...they are ripping off customers because between them (Merc, Audi, BMW) they have more or less got a cartel going to charge more than what they fairly should.
This then has a knock-on effect, so VW and it's affiliate Skoda charge a large premium for their higher-end models as well (to fill the 20-30 lakh vaccuum). Sad. |