Audi calls for lower import duties on electric vehicles
- ByAyushi Ray | September 27, 2021
Audi, the German luxury car maker, calls for lower import duties on electric vehicles. The company, which now sells five electric cars in the country, noted that lower taxes would help in lowering the price tag of the imported models which would help it in achieving a certain minimum volume in the market.In an interaction with PTI, Audi India Head, Balbir Singh Dhillon, noted that the company has been able to sell the first set of electric vehicles it imported into the country for sale.”The first set of e-trons brought into the country are all sold off. It gives us confidence that people are ready, India is ready for electric mobility. All this is helping us to introduce more and more such cars,” he noted.
The company last week added two new fully electric four-door coupes – the e-tron GT and the RS e-tron GT – in India, taking the total number of such cars in its portfolio to five models. He, however, pointed out that import duties are turning out to be a limiting factor. “If duty is less, probably we can sell more in the country,” Dhillon said. “Import duties are high so that is something where our request to the government is if something can be done regarding it. Even if some relief is there for a 3-5 year period it will help us achieve a certain minimum volume which would help us convince our headquarters to invest further in the country to start making the cars locally.” At present, cars imported as completely built units (CBUs) attract customs duty ranging from 60 percent to 100 percent, depending on engine size and cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value less or above $40,000.
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