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With an aim to get rid of high-polluting vehicles, the transport ministry has proposed to double the rebate up to 50 per cent in one-time tax on purchase of new vehicles after scrapping those with BS-II and earlier emission standards. At present, a discount of 25 per cent in Motor Vehicle tax is provided on purchase of a new vehicle after scrapping old personal vehicles, while the rebate is capped at 15 per cent in case of commercial vehicles. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in a draft notification issued on January 24 said up to 50 per cent discount would be applicable for all vehicles, both commercial and personal, that are BS-I compliant or were manufactured before the BS norms were introduced. According to the draft notification, this discount would be applicable in case BS-II vehicles that fall under medium and heavy private and transport vehicles. The BS-I carbon emission norm for vehicles became mandatory in 2000, while the BS-II came into effect from ...
General Motors has said it will retreat from the robotaxi business and stop funding its money-losing Cruise autonomous vehicle unit. Instead the Detroit automaker will focus on development of partially automated driver-assist systems like its Super Cruise, which allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel. GM on Tuesday said it would get out of robotaxis given the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market. The company said it will combine Cruise's technical team with its own to work on advanced systems to assist drivers. GM bought Cruise automation in 2016 for at least USD1 billion with high hopes of developing a profitable fleet of robotaxis. Over the years GM invested billions in the subsidiary and eventually bought 90 per cent of the company from investors. GM even announced plans for Cruise to generate USD1 billion in annual revenue by 2025, but it scaled back spending on t
Prices of various car models -- ranging from entry-level hatchbacks to high-end luxury offerings -- are set to rise as automakers have announced price hikes with effect from January. Carmakers cite an increase in input costs and operational expenses as the main reason to implement price increases from the next month. Industry experts, however, note that the exercise is also undertaken by automakers every year in December to shore up sales volume in the last month of the year, as customers postpone buyouts to later months to get the new year manufactured units. "We have seen a few cycles of price increase in India. It happens at the beginning of the calendar year and financial year, but few OEMs pick the timing based on their planned launches as well," Deloitte India Partner Rajat Mahajan said. While there could be multiple factors for the price increase, the key one is due to a decline in profitability of a few large auto OEMs in the second quarter, he added. "Due to the festive .
Kia India on Monday said it is eyeing markets in the Middle East and Africa as it aims to double the export of completely knocked down (CKD) units by 2030. To date, the automaker has exported one lakh units of CKD vehicles since it began shipments in June 2020 from its manufacturing facility at Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. Kia India is one of the key export hubs for the South Korea-based Kia corporation, accounting for 50 per cent of the its CKD exports worldwide. In a statement, Kia India Chief Sales Officer Joonsu Cho said the automaker is grateful for the government's export-friendly policies, which have played a crucial role in strengthening country's position within the global automotive value chain. "Looking ahead, we aim to expand our CKD footprint to the Middle East and Africa, to double our export volume by 2030," he noted. The company is looking to export over 38,000 CKD units across Uzbekistan, Ecuador, and Vietnam markets this year, the automaker said. Cumulatively, t