MUMBAI: Amidst talks about increasing GST on electric vehicles -- all of them, including luxe ones, currently attract a flat 5 percent -- to make the levy more politically correct, the country’s largest luxury EV car-maker, BMW, has called for a green tax/GST, which typically levies a lesser tax on a product that is greener than the others.
Meanwhile, BMW India Friday announced their highest ever sales numbers in 17 years for the nine months of the year at 10,556 units, which includes the parent BMW cars and Mini-branded cars, clocking a 10 percent growth over the same period in 2023.
Of the 10,556 cars it sold, as much as 750 are EVs -- BMW has 7 all electric cars (five BMWs and two Minis; all imported) and two Motorrad bikes, which are also imported.
So far it has sold 2,500 EV cars, making it the largest player in the luxe EV space, commanding as much as 50 percent of the market, and the company is sure of closing this year in four-digits.
“Ideally, there should be a green tax, or a green GST, to promote net zero emissions, and not just electric vehicles alone. The greener the car or product is, the lower should be the tax payable on that product,” Vikram Pawah, the president and chief executive of BMW Group India, told TNIE here Friday.
Pawah was here to launch the company’ 25th model this year -- the luxe sportscar M4CS -- and also announce the national extension of its Retail Next initiative that will bring all its models, including the bike brand Motorrad, under one roof.
He was responding to a question from TNIE on the reported move of the GST Council to up the levy on luxe EVs from the present 5 percent.
There has been some severe political criticism of the high GST on essential items such as biscuits that attracts 28 percent and the very low levy on items like gold (3 percent) and all EVs, including luxe cars, at 5 percent.
Following this, there have been reports that the council may increase GST-luxury cars so that it looks more politically correct.
Calling for stability in policies and taxation, Pawah said for the country to attain the net zero targets and also to have 30 percent of its mobility moving to electric or onto greener fuels, there has to be policy stability along with taxation certainty. Also, some states have been increasing road tax. We need stability on all these fronts.
Though BMW, as a tech-driven company, is agnostic to any technology and that it’s all open to customer demand, he said giving the same tax treatment to hybrids won’t be a fair idea.
“For the EV revolution to be fully achieved, a lot of things has to remain and move on right. We should have the right policy, the right tax structure,” Pawah said, but added that when it comes to the intent of the government on the EV front, there is no lack of seriousness about it.
On the EV front, Pawah said, “While currently we are the largest with 50 percent market share, despite being all imported models, with the i7 being the largest selling model. We will look at making them locally once we reach a critical mass. In fact, it’s not low volume that’s keeping us away from local assembly model availability. Once we've got the model ready, it’s only a matter of time before they are rolled out from the Chennai plant.”
On the sales front, he said this is the best-ever year to date car sales for the group at 10,556 units. The numbers are driven by the overwhelming demand for the long wheelbase models—the 3 Series, the 5 Series, and the 7 Series.
In the January-September period, however, at the group level, the volumes are down a tad, primarily due to the model phase out in Motorrad, which led to a decline to 5,638 motorcycles, down from 6,778 last year. Also, Mini sales were also marginally down to 500 from 582 a year ago. But a 12 percent jump in BMW deliveries took the overall numbers up by 10 percent for the reporting period, Pawah said.
The BMW M4 CS comes at a price tag of Rs 1.89 crore.