The Central Board of Excise and Customs has announced that sedans like Toyota Corolla Altis and Maruti Suzuki SX4 will be levied with a lower excise duty of 27 per cent, in place of 30 per cent, which has been defined for Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) like Toyota Innova and Ford Endeavour.
In the circular, issued on July 24, there was mentioned that “...it is clarified that the afore-cited motor vehicles (Maruti SX4, Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla Altis), which are known as sedans, will attract the excise duty of 27% as applicable to large segment cars.”
Industry experts believe that this move will remove the confusion over the problem that which vehicle to be considered as a sedan and SUV, as per government policies. Also, it will help companies producing larger sedans that have almost similar specifications as that of SUVs, from entitled to pay higher duties in absence of any clarity. In the budget, the central government of India increased the excise duty to 30 per cent on SUVs, which have a engine capacity of more than 1,500 cc, with an overall length of over 4,000 mm and ground clearance of 170 mm.
