German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz can drive in a fully electric vehicle to India as early as next year depending on a favourable taxation structure for such vehicles in the country, a top company official said, reported Livemint citing source.
“We believe in electric vehicles. Globally, we are putting in resources to develop EVs. By 2022-24, we are going to have 15-20 completely new such models. We strongly believe that 20-25% of our volume by 2022 might be EVs. We are gearing up in that direction globally. In India, it all depends again on taxation,” Mercedes-Benz India MD and CEO Roland Folger said to PTI.
He added that currently there is no inherent interest to switch to EV segment among buyers in the country and that to make the segment attractive there is a need to have such vehicles on the ground.
He said that the fully imported completely built units (CBU) of EVs should be treated at par in terms of taxation with locally manufactured vehicles supporting green technology.
He further informed PTI that currently launching an EV does not make sense as even a mid-sized EV would be as expensive as a S-Class sedan. Under the current GST regime, EVs attract a tax of 12%. Imported cars on the other hand attract custom duty of 60% and 100% depending upon the price and size of the engine.
