Due to the new surcharge, vehicle prices have gone up slightly, with the Alto increasing by 5 lakhs and the Yaris by 7.5 lakhs.

The government has taken steps to increase the surcharge imposed on vehicle imports by 50 percent. Vehicle importers state that due to this tax amendment, which has been implemented to be effective for a period of three months from the 15th of last month, vehicle prices in the country will undoubtedly increase in the future.

This has had many direct and indirect impacts on the sector, and since vehicle prices in the market have not decreased, vehicle dealers have been unable to bear the increased surcharge alone. For this reason, they point out that the price of small-sized vehicles, which are more popular among the middle class, will increase by an amount ranging from 5 to 10 lakhs rupees.

Under the new tax system, even for a small car, vehicle dealers have to pay an additional amount of 5 to 10 lakhs rupees as tax when releasing new vehicles. They state that this cost will ultimately have to be recovered from the consumer, making it impossible to prevent vehicle prices from increasing. Accordingly, the price of a Japanese Alto car, currently sold for about 70 lakhs rupees, is expected to increase to 75 lakhs rupees. Furthermore, vehicle importers have indicated that the price of a Toyota Yaris type motor car, currently sold for about 100 lakhs rupees, will also increase by approximately 7.5 lakhs rupees in the future.

Meanwhile, since it takes a short period of about two weeks to import a vehicle from India to this country, it is reported that the prices of vehicles imported from that country have already increased in the market. However, it is also stated that there has been no change in the prices of vehicles imported into the country before the imposition of this new surcharge. For this reason, importers say that consumers are very reluctant to buy newly imported vehicles at high prices while vehicles at old prices are still available in the market.

Given the current situation, importers have decided to avoid importing new vehicles as much as possible until the existing stock of vehicles in the market is sold out. As a result of this decision, vehicle importers further state that the number of Letters of Credit (LCs) opened for vehicle imports after the 15th of last month has also decreased significantly.