Post the Budget announcement on February 29, we were expecting cars to get costlier and while companies like Tata Motors and Hyundai have already announced a hike in the price, Maruti Suzuki today too went the same way.
Following the infrastructure cess on automobiles in the 2016-17 Union Budget, Maruti Suzuki India Limited said that the ex-showroom prices of its models would rise by up to Rs. 34, 494. The price hike announced by the company is in the range of Rs. 1,441 to Rs. 34,494 across its models. The company has however, not provided with the increase in price in terms of individual models yet.
Also Read: Maruti Suzuki to Launch Vitara Brezza on March 8
There's a big relief however, for those who want to opt for the Smart Hybrid Models. Maruti Suzuki currently has introduced this system in the diesel variants of the Ciaz and the Ertiga and both these models benefit from the FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India) scheme which was introduced by the Government of India. Maruti Suzuki has said that the price of both these cars will not be affected as the Ciaz SHVS and the Ertiga SHVS are exempt from the infrastructure cess.
The move to introduce infrastructure cess might have had an effect on cars becoming dearer but clearly, as we can see, it might move car manufacturers to head to greener pastures and introduce cars into their line-up which are eco-friendly. Maruti Suzuki already has a strong line up of such cars but still there's a long way to go, considering that even cars equipped with CNG attract the cess.
The company is all set to ring in the Vitara Brezza in India on March 8 and we can't wait to see how it prices the car.
