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Much to the delight of prospective small car buyers, leading manufacturers Hyundai Motor India and General Motors on Friday said they would slash prices by up to Rs 16,000 to pass on benefits from the excise duty cut announced in the Budget.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram, in his Budget speech, has proposed to cut excise duty from 16 per cent to 12 per cent on small cars.
Hyundai Motor India the country's second largest passenger car manufacturer and the largest exporter, which offers a full range of cars starting from compact to premium luxury cars, will offer its customers a much revised price package for it compact cars.
"We have decided to pass on the benefit of the excise duty cut to customers on three models -- Santro, i10 and the Getz -- effective April 1," a Hyundai official told PTI.
The competitive price of Hyundai cars are set to become even more competitive after this year's Union Budget with the price cut going as high as Rs 19,419 for its Getz Prime CRDi mode. The HMI range of cars now start at an attractive Rs 261,631 for it flagship model the Santro and goes up to Rs 351,482. The newly launched, segment defining, i10 sports a new price tag of Rs 330,686 making it one of the best priced cars in this segment.
Commenting on the Government's decision to revise excise duty, Arvind Saxena, Sr.VP Marketing & Sales, HMI said, "We welcome the attention to the automobile industry in this Budget and the Finance Minister's gesture of bringing down the excise duty. At a time when the industry sales seemed to be tapering off this has come as a major boost and it will help the industry maintain its growth rate. Today, 75% of the car sales are that in the compact segment and this cut in excise duty will benefit the manufacturers and the customers alike. As for Hyundai it has made our products more attractive to our customers".
The price changes will be in effect immediately.
General Motors is also cutting the price of its small cars Spark and Aveo U-VA. "We will be cutting the prices of our small cars between Rs 7,500 and Rs 14,000," GM India Vice-President P Balendran said.
Meanwhile, rival Maruti officials said the company was studying the impact of the excise cut before taking any steps.