Renaut Duster price hike expcted as SUV duties were increased in Budget 2013

The 2013 Union Budget of India is over, it was indeed disappointing for Indian car market. Car makers expect the budget to give some support or relief to the declining car market in the budget. But the government did not show any mercy towards Indian market. Government just added fuel to the loss.

So if you are planning to buy a Duster act quick. Soon Renault will hike the prices of Duster. Government has increased the excise duties of Sports Utility Vehicles from 27% to 30%. According to Indian government SUV S with length over 4 meter and engine capacity over 1.2 l for petrol and 1.5 l will face the hike in excise duties. Luckily Renault Duster diesel will not be affected by excise duties as the it has a 1.5 l K9K diesel engine.

But the 1.5 l petrol engine from Renault will be facing some hiking trouble. As the engine displacement is more than 1200cc the duties will be hiked by 3%. Renault pans to shift this additional weight to the hands of the buyers just like Nissan Quote ”Shift the Way you move. ”Currently the petrol Duster is priced from 7.32 to 9 lakhs. We can expect an increase of INR 25000 to 30000 by April.

The diesel engined Duster currently has 24% excise duties and it will not suffer the increase. But government has not yet found a clear clarification or definition for an SUV. Currently it is slated that all cars with ground clearance over 170 mm are considered as SUV. This makes many other cars like sedans and MPV s and large hatches under the SUV section.

We expect government to state a clear definition for an SUV by the end of March. Then only we can confirm the price hike for SUVs and state whether prices will be hiked or not. So best thing for the buyers to do currently is quickly buy your favorite SUV by the time stock ends and save half lakhs.

Other pending launches like Ford Ecosport and Honda Amaze will only be launched after government comes up with a crystal clear definition for an SUV.

Meanwhile chances of price hike for Renault Koelos is 100% sure. As the car is an classified as an SUV and an imported vehicle. The excise duties for vehicles imported through are increased to 100% from 75%. So we can expect a massive hike say about 7 lakhs hike in the price tag of Koelos.

Here are also rumors tat Renault will also launch an all wheel drive version of Duster soon.