Maruti has confirmed that before launching EVs, it will focus on CNG and Hybrid cars and has now expressed tax relief on the purchase of green mobility vehicles.
A couple of weeks back, Maruti had confirmed that it would not be focusing on the electric vehicle market in India as of now. The primary reason for this being that EVs are still not that popular in India, also the infrastructure is not in place.
To promote green mobility in our country, Maruti has pitched the idea of tax relief on Hybrid and CNG cars. Maruti seeks for a tax cut on purchase of hybrid and CNG cars, just like the government declared one recently for EVs.
Maruti has a couple of mild-hybrid cars now, including the Ciaz Petrol, Baleno Petrol and the Ertiga petrol which come with SHVS mild-hybrid system. The same system earlier came on the diesel engine, which has been discontinued now.
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RC Bhargava, Maruti Suzuki Chairman, stated that the company would like GST benefits on hybrid and CNG cars, just like with the EVs. This will in turn help in the reduction of pricing of green mobility cars.
Also, the mileage of hybrid and CNG cars are nearly 30% more than their petrol counterparts. Faster acceptance of these fuel types will reduce the oil import costs borne by the manufacturer.
The GST rate for petrol and diesel cars is 28%, whereas the EVs recently saw a cut down from 18% to 5%. While the government is focusing on green mobility, it has completely left other green mobility options out of the scenario.
The company further states that India is not ready for the demand of EVs, which will be a costly affair for the private buyers. Also, the lack of proper infrastructure will add up to the problems of EV buyers.
Also Read: Electric Maruti WagonR Will Not Be Available For Private Buyers – Report
As of now, Maruti has a couple of CNG cars including Alto, WagonR and Ertiga, which come with factory-fitted kits. Maruti has confirmed that it will launch new CNG vehicles, particularly in smaller vehicles. The sales of CNG cars rose to over 40% in 2018.
With that, Maruti has also confirmed it again, that it would not launch the WagonR EV for private buyers first and rather for cab aggregators. We might see some new launches in the hybrid segment instead.
