New Delhi: Volkswagen AG, the world’s second largest car maker, calls for lower import duties on electric cars in India to help drive the demand for clean vehicles, echo the latest Tesla tones that have divided the country’s car industry.
Cutting duties on electric vehicles (EVS) even up to 25% – from current levels as high as 100% – will not cause “big threats” for domestic players, but will help to encourage investment, the head of Indian German car maker told Reuters in interviews.
“The market for EVs must be large enough for investment to enter and for that we should not place obstacles,” said Gurpratap Bopari, President Director of Skoda Auto Volkswagen India, said.
German car makers explore EV for India from the brand Volkswagen and Skoda, but need to see lower import duties, stable policies about taxation and long-term incentives to take risks, said Booparai.
The development of filling infrastructure will also influence its decision.
Indian Tax Imported cars built fully, including EVS, as high as 100%, but the government is discussing proposals to cut the lowest level of 40%, the day after cutting Tesla Inc.
It has triggered a gap in the automotive industry, with global players such as Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai Motor which supports the proposed cuts, but domestic rivals such as Tata Motors against them, said they would hurt local boost to increase local production.
“I am at all saying that local manufacturing should not be driven …
but the task is 60% and 100% very high at these points,” said Boparai, added that to produce EV locally, first need more requests.
Volkswagen, which aims to overtake Tesla as the largest EV maker in the world in 2025, is investing billions of dollars to transition to battery-powered cars, which are expected to take into account half of the sale of global vehicles in 2030.
While the fifth in the world of the car market surpassed, Is on the Map of Volkswagen EV, Boparai expects LAG in electrification compared to Europe and China because of the high price of battery-powered cars and lack of local charging infrastructure.
In July, Volkswagen began selling three Audi electric SUVs at a price of around $ 133.0000, placing them from the range of most buyers in India where 95% of cars were sold at a price of less than $ 20,000.
Next year, he plans to launch Porsche Taycan EV luxury in India.
Bopai said he hoped the request to start at the end of the market and drip, as seen in the market like the United States where Tesla dominated the sale of electric cars.
But in India there is also a need for EV and affordable demand for it will begin with a ride or company fleet, he added.
“Building EVs is a lot of hard work.
Don’t really have a clear road map and don’t reduce the task will slow progress towards EVS – both adoption and manufacturing,” he said.