[Thad E Ginathom]

I am all for some protection of the home trade.

Without it it will just get wiped out/bought out --- even if Tata is trying to prove the opposite true at the moment!

Selfishly, I'd like to buy an imported car at a price I can afford. The Imported people among us, and those Indians that have spent time driving abroad will feel that very much. We what what we are used to.

Some balance could surely reduce the price of imported cards and increase the quality of local cars. But that is not all there is to the equation: increasing the quality of local cars will increase their price, making car ownership more expensive for many.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Selfishly, I'd like to buy an imported car at a price I can afford. The Imported people among us, and those Indians that have spent time driving abroad will feel that very much. We what what we are used to.

I am mostly happy with the range of cars that we have already....its the price thats a problem. 30 lakh rupees for a C Class and 19 lakhs for a Laura is not what I would call value. Car prices can be made more reasonable with an adjustment in taxes / duties.

But just when was the last time you heard of taxes being lowered

[khanak]

Automakers to face $2B class-action for Canadian price discrepancies - Autoblog


Maybe someone should do sometihng similar in India.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by khanak

Automakers to face $2B class-action for Canadian price discrepancies - Autoblog


Maybe someone should do sometihng similar in India.

So we sue the govt for higher taxes tham amreeka

[caliper]

Ever notice that when the govt. comes out with yet another cess, the car companies have an ad out the next day saying "buy before the price increase".

Yet the rupee has gone from 47 or 48 to 39, and I don't believe I've seen any price decreases, not in the range of 19% from any car company. With the stronger rupee, it should be cheaper to import any and all expensive components.

Basically, just like the oil companies, car companies are quick to raise prices, but almost never reduce them. The reason for this is they think consumers are asleep and are sheep (which, in fact, they are). Only when Indian car buyers start howling will the auto companies recieve a jolt.

[thefreak]

Bang on! The prices only head northwards. With an appreciating rupee we should be getting some benefit especially in case of CBU's like Camry and all. It was being sold in India at around 22 lakhs OTR when Dollar was 42. If the dollar benefit was passed on to us it would right now be for 20.4 laksh. That is a lot of money!!

Yes exactly Indians are being ripped of in a way, becuase the economics of a nation and its currency, should also apply to the car industry, not just the fuel that goes into them, if petrol prices were held stable when globally it was rising, so should the prices of cars that are imported, as their value has also subsided now for sure.

[sassid]

We probably have both extremes in our country.

The 800 and the Alto are pound for pound probably the cheapest transport alternatives available. Most of our A Segment cars are so aggressively positioned that even an amazing product like the fabia strikes a discordant tone.

But the top end of the market is skewed the other way round with most of the C & D segmenters being priced far above the international going rate.

So I guess the pertinent question is who is the average indian- is he the guy spending mega mega bucks at the BMW/Merc/Audi showrooms,Mega bucks at the Honda/Toyota/Skoda showrooms or reasonable bucks at the Tata/Maruti showrooms.

I think the average indian is just spending reasonable bucks and he is being well served.

Of course none of us would complain if prices do come down (maybe our FM will pull another rabbit out of the hat and announce sops for the next biggest votebank in the country - the auto fanatics :-)

One can hope :-)

[GTO]

But the top end of the market is skewed the other way round with most of the C & D segmenters being priced far above the international going rate.

Quite natural considering the high % of import content in these cars, isnt it?

[rider60]

when will the government make the new rules? when will all the standards raise, ok we are being ripped off but cant they provide the same quality things as abroad? are we not paying the price for the same?

i think the skoda still sells well partly because of the quality they provide over the competition here, at least they provide good quality things here!

[vivekiny2k]

i am so happy I don't live in denmark.

Danish Car Taxes

[Amien]

Thing is , we should have duties on products that have perfect substitutes...im all for promoting indian companies, but damn, even the best we have just dont compare...every car beyond the best in india should be duty free...if you want indian companies to FINALLY step it up, thats what you do. In a week ratan tata will be working on a 20 lakh car that can compete with the GTR

sigh....deams :(

[shankar.balan]

Nothing is permanent but Death and Taxes.....

Originally Posted by GTO

I am mostly happy with the range of cars that we have already....its the price thats a problem. 30 lakh rupees for a C Class and 19 lakhs for a Laura is not what I would call value. Car prices can be made more reasonable with an adjustment in taxes / duties.

But just when was the last time you heard of taxes being lowered

[mjothi]

The recent Hybrid car from honda is said to be 22+ lac including a 104% tax. So, the actual price of the car is around 10Lac INR. Imagine, then how is it we have Honda city in that range and that too it is manufactured in India. Accord is even higher than this. Not just honda, take a look at the other manufactures like Skoda, Mitsubhishi, Toyota etc etc...

So, I 101% agree to the title of this thread.

[AbhiJ]

A Honda CR-V which attracts a 120 % duty, so I would have to say yes...

Without the duties, a CR-V 2.0 would sell for around 10 lacs on road price...

And we thought Scorpio was good VFM