Maruti cuts entry-level car prices beyond GST benefit

NEW DELHI: Maruti Suzuki on Thursday announced price cuts on its small cars, stretching beyond GST duty cut benefits, saying that it wants to increase affordability at the entry level of the car market to enable more people to switch to four-wheelers from two-wheelers.

The company said that on four models, it is giving price cuts beyond 8.5% decrease that works out due to govt's GST reduction. The cut on S-Presso is in the range of 12.6-24% across variants, on Alto K10 it's in the range of 10.6-20%, on Celerio 8.6-17%, and for WagonR 8.7-14%.



"Maruti Suzuki is starting a new chapter by putting India on wheels and providing the joy of mobility to as many people as possible," Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing & sales) at Maruti Suzuki, said.

The special retail prices, which come into effect from Sept 22 when the new GST regime kicks off, will be valid till the end of this year, as of now.

In terms of actual price cuts, the price reduction on the S-Presso is up to Rs 1.3 lakh (now ex-showroom price starts from Rs 3.5 lakh), on Alto K10 up to Rs 1.1 lakh (Rs 3.7 lakh), on Celerio up to Rs 94,100 (Rs 4.7 lakh), and on WagonR up to Rs 79,600 (Rs 5 lakh).

Banerjee said Maruti expects a big push to mobility, especially at the entry level, due to the GST cut decision, which comes at a time when there is higher disposable income in the hands of consumers due to income tax rebate and repo rate reduction. "The story of small cars was suffering due to the concerns around affordability."

The company believes that there will be growth in mini cars after this. "Our actions on the price front of the entry cars will address the issue of affordability. We expect the decline in growth of small cars to be reversed after this measure. We are now expecting growth to come back."

Banerjee said a combination of factors enabled the company to work out the special prices. "These are led by the efforts of our supply chain, R&D, production, and engineering teams."