Carmaker raises prices of CBU units

Decision comes due to increase in FED, customs duty in mini-budget

KARACHI:

The impact of mini-budget is being felt by the general public and the economy as a whole as prices of essential and luxury goods are going up.

Businesses have opted to pass on the impact of increase in taxes and duties to the general public.

Indus Motor Company (IMC), widely known as Toyota, has increased prices of its entire range of imported cars.

According to market sources, the automaker jacked up the rates following an increase in federal excise duty (FED) by the government in the recent mini-budget, aimed at easing the pressure on import bill.

The company raised prices of completely built units (CBUs) of numerous models including Hiace, Coaster, Corolla Cross, Prius, Rush and Camry.

Following the price jump, different variants of Hiace, that were earlier priced between Rs6-6.6 million, are now available at Rs6.3-6.98 million.

Similarly, the cost of different models of Hiace Deluxe has been raised from Rs6.9-11.1 million to Rs7.3-11.8 million.

The firm raised the price of Coaster by Rs810,000 to Rs14.81 million. Earlier, the vehicle was available at Rs13.99 million.

Toyota Corolla Cross, which could be bought for Rs7.7-8.4 million earlier, is now priced at Rs9.25-10.1 million.

The cost of Prius 1.8L jumped from Rs9.2 million to Rs11.1 million, an increase of Rs1.84 million.

Prices of Rush GMT 1.5L and GAT 1.5L models have spiked to Rs6.2 million and Rs6.4 million respectively, compared to the earlier rate of Rs5.6 million and Rs5.8 million.

The price of Camry variant has gone up by Rs2.7 million to Rs21.3 million.

“The price increase is mainly attributable to the jump in federal excise duty, regulatory duty and customs duty imposed under the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2021 as well as rupee depreciation, inflated shipment cost and rise in steel prices,” said Arif Habib Limited (AHL) analyst Arsalan Hanif.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, he projected further hike in rates of imported CBUs of cars because the upcoming automobile policy was likely to promote demand for locally assembled cars by turning imported vehicles expensive.

Endorsing his views, Insight Securities’ analyst Ali Asif stated that the jump in prices of imported CBUs came on the back of imposition and revision of federal excise duty on cars of different engine capacities to ease pressure on the import bill.

“Such levies will provide competitive advantage to our domestic manufacturers given that the increase in the cost of CBUs will trigger a drop in their imports,” added Asif.

Taurus Securities’ analyst Mustajab Ali Kazmi said “the spike in sales tax on imported hybrid vehicles from 8.5% to 12.5% forced the auto company to increase prices.”

Moreover, he added that rupee devaluation against the dollar also played a significant role in inflating the rates.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2022.

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