Auto dealers refrain from price hike

KATHMANDU, July 30: The budget, unveiled by the government earlier this month, increased taxes on four-wheelers by around 5 percent. Though the effect on prices of other products was seen immediately, the prices of four-wheelers, contrary to widespread expectation, have largely remained stable. [break]



Major automobile dealers in Kathmandu say prices are not likely to go up any time soon. This year the rise in tax is not very significant as compared to previous years.

“Every time the budget is around the corner, our potential clients are focused on how much the tax will go up. This time the rise was nominal and not big enough to have a very large effect on our prices,” Anup K Baral, who heads the Passenger Car Business Unit of Sipradi Trading Pvt Ltd, the sole distributor of Tata Motors India for Nepal, said. “Our firm and other major players here have been able to easily adjust this hike.”



Another factor that led the auto dealers decide against an immediate rise is competition. “The situation at the moment is such that sellers of luxury products cannot afford to increase the rates for such small tax hikes,” Baral said, adding that most auto dealers, at present, were thinking about retaining clientele rather than price hike.



“We aren´t even planning to increase the introductory rate for Indica Vistas, which we unveiled last month,” he added.



Confirming that AVCO International Pvt Ltd, the sole authorized distributor of Hyundai vehicles for Nepal, has also not made any price changes recently, Pranavesh J Pradhan, manager, MPR and Publicity, at AVCO´s parent company, said no immediate change was likely. “We are still reviewing the effects of the budget and also other changes in the international car market. So there will be no price change until something concrete comes up,” he said.



Other major automobile dealers in the capital, including Vijay Motors which sells Chevrolet, Continental Trading Enterprises for KIA, and AIT for Suzuki vehicles, also told myrepublica.com that they had not changed prices of small vehicles after the budget.



Some popular small cars in Nepal (With a 2l or smaller engine)



Hyundai Santro - Rs 1,349,000*

Hyundai i10 - Rs 1,420,000*

Chevrolet Spark - Rs 1,600,000*

Chevrolet Aveo U-VA - Rs 1,875,000*

Suzuki Alto - Rs 1,239,000*

Suzuki WagonR - Rs 1,469,000*

Suzuki Zen Estilo - Rs 1,439,000*

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