[srishiva]

Using FE to tax would be cumbersome. Then manufacturers will have to tweak the driving characteristics (power curve, gearing...), weight etc., and am not sure if the cars would be good to drive.
Engine size and vehicle length should have been sufficient.

[drsingh]

Originally Posted by revintup

I guess the basic aim of this excess duty would be to ensure more fuel efficient vehicles on the road. So would not a simple fuel efficiency based tax structure be more effective? It would also lead to better technology filtering thru to the masses.

The basic aim of these rules is to tax the sector that is doing well I.e
SUV's . To garner more revenue.That's all. Because charging private vehicle owners higher prices for diesel is near impossible due to risks of corruption and black marketing.


It is more of a ' Public Relations ' decision. The perception should be that ' only big vehicles owned by the relatively rich who should not be getting fuel subsidy are taxed' . SUV's are an easy target due to lower fuel efficiency too!

I also feel the tax is not on ' luxury vehicles' because most high end players are foreign companies that bring in Foreign investment . Any sudden policy change that affects FDI will draw foreign criticism for inconsistent policy.

[YashD]

Was just surfing the net for some latest news and came across this news!
Due to the revised rates of the excise duty to 30%. Mahindra recorded 14% fall in April sales! Mahindra needs to avoid any of the three parameters defined by the Government for utility vehicles – length more than 4 metres; ground clearance more than 170 mm and engine capacity more than 1500cc, to get exempted from the additional SUV tax. So, Mahindra has decided to lower the ground clearance and engine capacity to meet the requirements

The complete article: http://www.motorbeam.com/cars/mahind...und-clearance/

Source: Motorbeam

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by YashD

Was just surfing the net for some latest news and came across this news!
Due to the revised rates of the excise duty to 30%. Mahindra recorded 14% fall in April sales! Mahindra needs to avoid any of the three parameters defined by the Government for utility vehicles – length more than 4 metres; ground clearance more than 170 mm and engine capacity more than 1500cc, to get exempted from the additional SUV tax. So, Mahindra has decided to lower the ground clearance and engine capacity to meet the requirements

The complete article: http://www.motorbeam.com/cars/mahind...und-clearance/

Source: Motorbeam

This will ensure that an already iffy vehicle becomes a completely crappy vehicle. Why on earth would one buy a big beast like an XUV if not for its engine power and its ground clearance other than of course, the space inside.

Our government policy makers are also complete idiots I must say...

[ambadan]

Originally Posted by YashD

Was just surfing the net for some latest news and came across this news!
Due to the revised rates of the excise duty to 30%. Mahindra recorded 14% fall in April sales! Mahindra needs to avoid any of the three parameters defined by the Government for utility vehicles – length more than 4 metres; ground clearance more than 170 mm and engine capacity more than 1500cc, to get exempted from the additional SUV tax. So, Mahindra has decided to lower the ground clearance and engine capacity to meet the requirements

The complete article: http://www.motorbeam.com/cars/mahind...und-clearance/

Source: Motorbeam

It will be just like "Cutting One's Feet to Fit One's Shoes"

[GrammarNazi]

A downright unfair policy by the government. Nobody can do anything about it, any amount of reasoning will only fall on deaf ears. In all this, Mahindra must've given up & thought it's better to try and adapt after they tried to pursue the matter.

They give us terrible city roads. The highways are heavily tolled. Its not that the government alone is bad, its that the method planned for the governance of this country is inappropriate.

[wanderernomad]

All of us here, who are criticizing the definition, can we have a logical definition of an SUV that would broadly cover most of the "SUV" on road today. It makes sense to tax those who can afford a minor rise, especially in a country where general tax evasion is the norm.

[akshay4587]

Dropping the GC below 170 or Chopping the length or Downsizing the engine wont be possible on current platform.
So anything above 1500CC and 170MM GC is an SUV
So is SX4 VVT an SUV now

[SDP]

Was speaking to my RM and he mentioned that a mini-XUV is coming. I asked him if he means the S101. He said - No, S101 is different. Mahindras are chopping the XUV's rear (last-row would be gone) and would maintain the rest of the car mostly as is. He said, but its 2-2.5 years away.

Chopping a monocoque is not going be easy. If this is actually true, my worst fears are coming true. They are going to take a well-proportioned vehicle and make a "Frankenstein" out of it.

[man_and_machine]

Well, the downside of this reduced GV would prompt the XUV to sell a W2 variant with 15" wheels? Well, you can do that for < 170 mm GC. Again, if the next govt, modifies the rule you can't re-engineer the product. The profits on the XUV are fat, really fat. The best for mahindra is to moderate (lower) the price for its offering and bring it down to an acceptable number for the quality it offers, so that you reduce the tax and to swallow the tax hike (be less greedy on the profit). That way you save the product, maintain the distinctive advantage, i.e. still be a full size SUV. Any change to the parameters to the XUV and it will not be the same product anymore. Interesting to see what path M&M will take.

[sarthakgupta]

MAHINDRA BOLERO, SCORPIO AND XUV500 TO GET STONE GUARD TO QUALIFY FOR LOWER EXCISE DUTY

.....to achieve a lower ground clearance, the car maker has fit a “stone guard” to its utility range of vehicles such as the Bolero, Scorpio and the XUV500.

The stone guard is a plate that sits under the body of the SUV and prevents stones from damaging the underbody of the SUV. The addition of the stone guard reduces the ground clearance of the Mahindra range of SUVs, thus allowing them to duck under the 170mm mark. Team ICB’s sources state that Mahindra has already got these modifications approved by ARAI, the body that approves all changes to motor vehicles sold in India......

Source: http://www.indiancarsbikes.in/cars/i...se-duty-70804/

[speedmiester]

Good job by Mahindra for thinking creatively to overcome the idiotic taxation and ambiguous rules and specifications.
More manufacturers may follow suit.

[man_and_machine]

Originally Posted by sarthakgupta

MAHINDRA BOLERO, SCORPIO AND XUV500 TO GET STONE GUARD TO QUALIFY FOR LOWER EXCISE DUTY

Smart! And only the govt thinks they have the smart guys around! I guess once you buy the car you can get the stone guard removed, if you do not do much "stone road driving". Or may be the Govt and M&M were together on this (conspiracy stories are always 'Masala').

[govigov]

If it is a plate below the engine to protect the oil sump, then a lot of people might actually leave it there. Some of the team bhp ians have actually custom fitted these plates on their SUV's.

[MaxTorque]

Finally it's official, a slightly cheaper variant of XUV500 is coming. Mahindra has reduced the ground clearance of the vehicle by 30mm (200mm to 170mm) to avoid additional 3% tax. Nice strategy to deal with funny rules.

The full report is here.