Riding over the fact that the Government has stopped the excise duty sops from January 1 onwards, which will make cars dearer in the new year, auto makers like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Toyota reported robust sales in December.
The excise duty concessions given in the interim Budget by the outgoing UPA Government in February last and extended by the new Finance Minister Arun Jaitley by six months, ceased to be in force from January 1. The decision not to extend the concession could mean an income of about Rs 1,000 crore in the remaining three months of the financial year.
Auto makers however said they were waiting for some time because of lack of clarity on the issue and would decide on hiking vehicle prices soon. In fact, the manufacturers had talked of a hike even before the Government had indicated a few days ago that the duty concessions would not be extended. None of the car makers, including market leader Maruti, Hyundai, Toyota and Mahindra & Mahindra, announced any change in prices.
"We will study the market reaction and announce the price revision of our products accordingly," Toyota Kirloskar Motor Senior Vice President (Sales and Marketing) N Raja said. Officials at Maruti also said the company is currently onits year-end holiday and a decision on the price would be taken only when it reopens next week.
Coming out with their sales figures for December, Maruti Suzuki reported 13.3 per cent increase in its domestic sales to 98,109 units as against 86,613 units in December, 2013. Sales in the compact segment cars comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz, Dzire rose by 23 per cent to 41,532 units in December this year as against 33,766 units in December 2013.