Doubt Clarified – Maruti SX4, Toyota Corolla Altis will remain sedans
2013 Union Budget has brought nasty surprises for all the SUV makers in India. As per the recent budget all the cars which carry engines bigger than 1.5-liters in capacity, length greater than 4-meters and also with a ground clearance more than 170 mm are to be classified as SUVs.
As per the Government of India the increase in excise duty, according to the new budget is due to the fact that the car which satisfies all these above specifications occupies more space and results into congestion.
As the result of this new Budget, cars like the Toyota Altis and Maruti SX4 also fall under these parameters and hence, suffered the excise duty hike as well. Now the Revenue Department has clarified that these cars would no longer attract the SUV tax proposed in the last Budget.
However, the Central Board of Excise Customs (CBEC) released an official statement recently and has cleared the confusion. This is what they said –
“It is clarified that the afore-cited motor vehicles (Maruti SX4, Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla Altis), which are known as sedans, will attract the excise duty of 27 per cent as applicable to large segment cars.”
(Note – Honda Civic is now discontinued from Indian car market.)
Also see – Mahindra SUVs excise duty brought down by introducing a ‘Stone Guard’
Mahindra reduces ground clearance of XUV 500 aiming to lower excise duty
