The excise duty hike announced in the Union Budget 2012-13 enforced an overall price rise that was implemented by all major players in the Indian auto market. The Japanese auto giant, Honda Motor Company that operates in India with a venture signed with Siel Limited had recently declared a surge in price of its mid-size compact sedan, Honda City to the tune of Rs. 10500 owing to the excise duty hike.
The latest update on the price hike reveals that the Honda City will witness a further hike of Rs. 10000 which will be effective from 1st April, 2012. The sedan, in the mid of this month was set to be expensive from about Rs. 5000 to Rs. 10000 across its variants commanding a raised price of Rs. 7.1 lakhs and Rs. 10.33 lakhs (ex-showroom Delhi).
Mr. Jnaneswar Sen, Sr. Vice President (Sales & Marketing), Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) quoted that, "Last week, we had passed on the impact of excise duty hike partially to our City customers as it was a big amount. However, as we do not have any other option, we are passing on the rest."
He further said, "With the full implementation of the duty hike, the City prices will further go up by Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 depending on variants from April 1."
The maximum hike of Rs. 93975 was imposed by the automaker on its top-end variant of class leading sleek luxury sedan, Honda Accord post the excise duty increase.
At present, the company is chalking out the plans to launch new variants of its bestselling models in the Indian market. Further, the untouched tax rates on diesel cars have strengthened the car maker’s strategies to introduce the diesel variants of Honda Civic, CR-V and Accord in the later phase of 2012.
