The Possibility of Assembling Electric Cars in India is Real: Mercedes

Lower CKD duties, would mean not just mere assembling EVs in Pune, it would also help in lowering the prices by minimum Rs.20 lakh even as full scale manufacturing is still a long shot.

Luxury Car market leader Mercedes Benz has stated that, while it wishes the government to offer some rebate on import duties, for its fully built cars, which include EVs, the possibility of assembling its electric cars in India , is real given as to how well, it has been received in the market.

The company has launched its 1st EV-EQC, the previous year, at Rs 1 crore-later it increased to Rs. 1.1 crore, and recently, it has opened bookings for the 2nd lot after the 1st lot was exhausted ahead of expectations. The import of cars as CBU does attract a tax of 60%, while those which cost over $40,000(Rs.29 lakh) are taxed at 100%. In contrast, for cars, which are assembled in the nation as CKD (completely knocked down), the effective import duty falls to between 15 and 30%. For electric vehicles the duty on CKD assembly is on the lower band of 15% while it is assembled in SKD form (semi Knocked down), it is around 25%.

We find, the local assembly of our global products is supported by lower duty rates, for which we have also begun assembling our high performance AMG cars, since the previous year. Going forward, if the market demand for EV's grow the way, it is projected presently and with more product introductions, local assembly of the EVs can be a real possibility, Martin Schwenk, MD & CEO Mercedes Benz India.