[manavdotcom]

New Delhi, Oct 11 The prices of some of India’s most sought after sports and multi-utility vehicles (SUVs and MUVs) could fall between Rs 30,000 and Rs 50,000, as the government plans to slash excise duty on them from 24% to 16% in the Budget.

The move would translate into cheaper sticker prices for vehicles like the Tata Safari, Tata Sumo, Toyota Innova, Chevrolet Tavera and the M&M Scorpio. This is expected to boost the demand for SUVs and MUVs, which grew 12.85% in the first half of this fiscal.

Industry experts estimate that the cut would help the segment grow by 15%. Around 1.9 lakh utility vehicles were sold in 2005-06, up 10.32% from 1.76 lakh in 2004-05. The government had cut the excise on small cars from 24% to 16% in Budget 2006.

Other vehicles like the Suzuki Grand Vitara and Toyota’s Prado will not be affected as they are imported as completely built units.

Currently, India’s cheapest MUV is the base model of the Tata Sumo, which costs around Rs 6 lakh and could go down by Rs 30,000. The cost of the most expensive utility vehicle, the high-end variant of the Tata Safari, costing around Rs 11 lakh, could fall Rs 50,000.

Officials at the heavy industry ministry said the move is in line with the Auto Mission Plan (AMP) 2006-16, which aims at promoting auto exports.

“We had requested the finance ministry to cut excise duty across the board before the last Budget,” KK Swamy, deputy managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd and chairman of the Committee on Taxation formed by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) told FE.

The AMP aims at doubling the contribution of the sector to the GDP by taking the turnover to $145 billion by 2016.

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_f...tent_id=143190

[theMAG]

Officials at the heavy industry ministry said the move is in line with the Auto Mission Plan (AMP) 2006-16, which aims at promoting auto exports.

I really don't see a functional link between a heavy industry paradigm with an SUV

[Su-47]

Originally Posted by theMAG

I really don't see a functional link between a heavy industry paradigm with an SUV

Maybe the automobile industry comes under the purview of "ministry of heavy industries".

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by theMAG

I really don't see a functional link between a heavy industry paradigm with an SUV

Perhaps because our local SUVs are massively overweight and therefore get classified under "heavy industry"?

[esteem_lover]

or probably because only the truck & tractor makers are into making SUVs. lol

[Abhay]

Do we really need more SUVs (read whales) with drivers trying to outmuscle other smaller cars off, on our tiny little roads ?

IMO SUVs should have a fee charged to even enter inside city limits.

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by Abhay

Do we really need more SUVs (read whales) with drivers trying to outmuscle other smaller cars off, on our tiny little roads ?

IMO SUVs should have a fee charged to even enter inside city limits.

Maybe they are trying to promote SUV's and subsequently car pooling - so that there are fewer small cars on the roads

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Abhay

IMO SUVs should have a fee charged to even enter inside city limits.

what if the two-wheelers start thinking similarly about the cars you drive?

Using this logic, any commercial vehicle bigger than a Tata Ace or Minidor should also be prohibited from entering the city without a toll. Buses included. Oil tankers too - soon we'll all have to drive out of city limits to refill, shop for provisions etc.

Similarly Call Centre Sumos and Qualises will drop their charges outside city limits. In the middle of the night !

Kidding, but why poor SUVs? THere are so few of us around !

[eflanker]

Expect more traffic and clogged streets

[bigman]

Originally Posted by eflanker

Expect more traffic and clogged streets

Not very likely by dropping the price of SUV/MUVs. We will however get clogged streets and have more accidents when Tata release their 1lakh car putting even more unskilled drivers on the roads.

[Zappo]

A bit OT, Ratan Tata recently said in some seminar/speech that he dreams of the day when all those people who today carry their full family on a two-wheeler with everyone hanging on precariously for their dear lives will be able to afford a car and travel safely (or some such stuff) it gave me jitters. This man has a knack of dreaming such outlandish dreams and then making them come true. His past record is pretty straight on this. Now if he actually makes this one happen as well everybody is doomed. I guess we will have to make a 3 hrs provision at the least whenever we go out once that happens.

Originally Posted by bigman

We will however get clogged streets and have more accidents when Tata release their 1lakh car putting even more unskilled drivers on the roads.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by Zappo

A bit OT, Ratan Tata recently said in some seminar/speech that he dreams of the day when all those people who today carry their full family on a two-wheeler with everyone hanging on precariously for their dear lives will be able to afford a car and travel safely (or some such stuff) it gave me jitters. This man has a knack of dreaming such outlandish dreams and then making them come true. His past record is pretty straight on this. Now if he actually makes this one happen as well everybody is doomed. I guess we will have to make a 3 hrs provision at the least whenever we go out once that happens.

here's another way of looking at it, zappo. if everyone travelling in a car is travelling with his family or as a group, then even with the 1 lakh car, there would be very few cars on the road. isn't it such a waste of national resources that one proud rich bloke wants to occupy 1/10th of the space in his SUV when he is travelling alone ?

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Zappo

A bit OT, Ratan Tata recently said in some seminar/speech that he dreams of the day when all those people who today carry their full family on a two-wheeler with everyone hanging on precariously for their dear lives will be able to afford a car and travel safely (or some such stuff) it gave me jitters. Now if he actually makes this one happen as well everybody is doomed.

So you'd prefer it if people loaded 3-4 people on a two-wheeler meant for 2, including small kids squeezed onto the front of the driver ?

I'd like you to go over to some orphange and meet some of the kids that have been orphaned AND handicapped for life after the 2-wheeler that the whole family was travelling on met with an accident. 3-4 year old kids who were probably 1.5 or 2 years old when the incidents happened.

Or maybe meet some of the widows who've lost husbands and children in such two-wheeler incidents.

Or a friend of mine who has been in shock and hasnt spoken for 2 years plus now after he lost his wife, their child and the 2nd child that his wife was carrying in a two wheeler accident.

How selfish can people get?

[Boom Shiva]

Cheaper SUVs fine. Now when will they give us REAL SUVs?

Steeroid, my heart goes out to your friend and his family. I hope he finds peace.

[speedzak]

Come on guys! Cant we count some positives too?

SUVs are big. But making it cheap wont mean it's going to be an SUV flood. It'll just make life easy for some.
For city commute, there're plenty of cheaper alternatives which will soon become more affordable and commutable.

As we are indians, we dont have to just keep counting the cons. Appreciating a good action is laudable instead of nickpicking.