Audi Wants A Cut On Duties To Revv Up Its EV Game In India

Audi India head Balbir Singh Dhillon has reportedly said that reduced import taxes on electric vehicles (EVs) will help the automaker experiment better in terms of models and pricing in the country. 

“If we get a window of three to five years where the government is able to reduce the duties, it will let us experiment which models make sense for India and help in terms of pricing points,” Dhillon told Reuters on the sidelines of an event in Bengaluru. 

This comes days after Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that the government was mulling a new EV policy. Prior to this, reports surfaced that authorities were potentially looking at slashing some import duties for foreign carmakers to boost domestic manufacturing. 

As per the report, Dhillon also said that the Indian arm of Audi was looking to assemble some of its electric cars in India in partnership with parent Volkswagen. He, however, refused to provide further details on the timeline or potential models.

This comes at a time when Audi’s Indian arm has been fighting pitched battles with competitors BMW and Mercedes-Benz India (MBI) for a greater pie of the local luxury EV market. On Friday, MBI launched its EQE 500 4MATIC car in India with a price tag of INR 1.39 Cr. It also said that its EV charging infrastructure would be open to the car owners of all car brands. 

While Audi India only manufactures internal combustion engines in the country, the pitch to have lower import taxes could help it bring in more cars from overseas while committing to manufacturing a smaller batch of cars in the country. 

Audi currently offers four electric models in the country, which are entirely imported and sold in the range of Inr 1.3 Cr to INR 2 Cr. 

This comes as the union government continues to roll out a red carpet for foreign EV makers to set up a base in the country. Offering attractive incentives and subsidies, authorities are targeting foreign investments as they look to spur EV adoption in the country. 

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