[drpudhi]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

This is how someone responded to Sirish Chandran about taxes on SUVs, on twitter.

I think cars in the 24% duty bracket like duster, ertiga (>4 meters & <1.5 L engine) are not affected. Only those in 27% bracket (>4 meters & >1.5 L engine) are affected by duty hike.

[pgsagar]

The problem is, SUV is not defined in Govt. statute. Not even in MV Act. It is auto-manufacturers-coined word to differentiate their product from sedans.

But rest assured that our revenue-hungry Govt will define even Nano as an SUV.

[speedmiester]

This is good news for Ford Ecosport. Hope Ford can launch it soon and price it sensibly to make it more appealing to the general SUV buying consumers.
Ecosport can take away few customers from the Safari, Scorpio and Duster stable as well.

[wanderlustindia]

Originally Posted by jkdas

The excise duty on motorcycles with engine capacity of 800 cc or more will go up by 60-75 per cent. !!!!

:(

If I heard Mr. FM correctly, he did not speak about the excise duty. It was more of lines of the import duty on motorcycles with engine capacity of 800 cc or more will go up from 60% to 75%. I'd however like to revisit the budget speech text and see if this matches up.

Update: I just dug up the bit about import duties and excise duties with regards to motor-vehicles from the Budget speech.

167. There is an affluent class in India that consumes imported luxury goods such as high end motor vehicles, motorcycles, yachts and similar vessels. I am sure they will not mind paying a little more. Hence, I propose to increase the duty on such motor vehicles from 75 percent to 100 percent; on motorcycles with engine capacity of 800cc or more from 60 percent to 75 percent; and on yachts and similar vessels from 10 percent to 25 percent.

174. SUVs occupy greater road and parking space and ought to bear a higher tax. I propose to increase the excise duty on SUVs from 27 percent to 30 percent. However, the increase will not apply to SUVs registered as taxis.

As many have said here, its a bit vague as to what a 'SUV' is in the government's book!

[apachelongbow]

On a lighter note: Largish hatchbacks like the Yeti and Duster, and also the EcoSport should now go back to calling themselves rough road hatches to escape this 3% hike

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by KiloAlpha

Errr ... the FIAT Linea has a ground clearance of 185mm. Now, is that an SUV?? I am not sure whether the ground clearance criteria alone is enough, there must be something else too!

So does the Lancer (GLXi : 185mm) ...

I hope they define some sensible criteria. Taxing imports more is a good thing, forces the players to setup in India. However, I though some trade pact with EU would force the govt to lower taxes on CBU from Europe and finally eliminating them - read in some ACI issue!

[WindRide]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

This is what I found on Sirish Chandran's timeline about taxes on SUVs, on twitter.

SUV sales will slow down and thats good news. Ridiculous to see the recent glut of SUV onto our already crazy roads. I gnash my teeth at all these ribboned UVs driven by one or two occupants on tarmacs.

[fiat_tarun]

In line with what starscream had posted, this is what the current Excise document specifies:


From this it looks vehicles categorized as SUV (which is still unclear) with engines >1500cc are the ones that will be affected, which means the Duster should be safe.

[manson]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

OT from this thread, The budget 2013 makes aspiring bikers to buy their SBK's even more expensive. Customs duties have been increased by 15%, which means a cheapest SBK would now be north of 13L OTR. Super Sports category will get to be even more expensive and would not be surprised if the R-1's, Hayabusa's & their equivalents being priced nearing 20L OTR

You just spoke my mind! Rumor has it that the prior to the Budget 2013-14, the 2013 Gsxr 1000 was going to cost 16L OTR Mumbai, so 20L isn't too far away.

[rock75]

Duty hike on imported cars and bikes above 800 cc is all right since they are luxury items and rather than increasing duty on small cars and commuter bikes, duty has been raised on these.

SUVs above 1500 cc are indeed inefficient, hog more road and parking space and frequently have only one or two people travelling in them, they also benefit because of consumption of cheap diesel. P Chidambaram has avoided calling it a diesel tax and sought to levy it indirectly by increasing excise.

[sarthakgupta]

Following is the new definition of SUV according to GoI:

"Motor vehicles of engine capacity exceeding 1500 cc, popularly known as Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) including utility vehicles.
Explanation. - For the purposes of this entry, SUV includes a motor vehicle of length exceeding 4000 mm and having ground clearance of 170 mm and above."

So as far as I am able to understand, vehicles like Ertiga, Ecosport and Duster should not be SUVs because although they do have a GC > 170mm but the engine capacity is < 1500 cc. Or is it the case that any vehicle that has a length > 4000 mm with GC > 170 mm is an SUV. In that case even Verito and Etios are SUVs (both have GC > 170 mm).

Experts, please clarify.

Source: Proceed to Section 284A in this document: http://www.cbec.gov.in/ub1314/ce12-2013.pdf

[anu21v]

Another simplistic way to look at it is; any vehicle which is paying 27% duty is the only one where this excise tax increase is applicable. Which would mean no additional tax on Ertiga, Quanto or Enjoy and Ecosport

[fiat_tarun]

^^ So that clears the air. Looks like Mahindra & Tata to an extent are the big losers. Only the Quanto escapes !

[Vid6639]

My Altis is more than 175mm and greater than 4 metres and has a 1.8L engine. How in the world can it be a SUV??

This is mind blowingly insane.

[eq24]

Super luxury car resale prices will go up. I think at least that is good news. So the guy who bought a Bentley for say 3 cr can now get a 25% increase on resale.

The SUV ambiguity is funny, the govt. now can take in their own interpretation of what a SUV is. What about MUV's and more importantly LUV's. I think there is only one LUV which should be worried, the Ertiga.

I do not think the high end car increase in duty is bad, people who can shell a crore for a car can most certainly cough up 1.25. At least this should get more foreign co's to set up shops in India. They will also be more accountable this way. They can't just close their offices and leave then.