Duties up 100% in 3 years: Lamborghini

BENGALURU: Italian super-luxury sports car brand Lamborghini’s CEO Stephan Winkelmann said India had one of the highest import duties on luxury cars in the world and that was proving to be big deterrent to driving sales in the country.
The total tax and cess on luxury cars, he noted, was 167%. “If you want to buy a car like this, you have to spend much more here than in other countries.The basic customs duty was 60% in 2011 (the year Lamborghini officially entered India), but it has now gone up to 100%. If the tax rate goes down, sales will rise, and the government would earn more,” Winkelmann, who was on a visit to Bengaluru on Tuesday for the launch of the carmaker’s first dealership in the city. The luxury car brand already has dealerships in Delhi and Mumbai.
The Lamborghini products sold in India include the Aventador Roadster LP 700-4, Aventador Coupe LP 700-4 and the recently launched Huracan LP 610.
Winkelmann said the company would be comfortable with a 60% import duty, the rate that prevailed in 2011. “We are too small a player in India to ask the government to bring down the import duty. It’s up to the industry to seek duty concessions collectively,” he said.