:German car maker Audi Thursday rued the "high tax" imposed on luxury cars and said it expects to post muted growth during the current year.
The company also said it would also launch three new models Q8, A8 and R8 in India during the course of the year.
Audi India Head, Rahil Ansari said the high tax levied on luxury vehicles had become an impediment to the growth of the category in India.
"Taxes on luxury cars are too high, especially if you look at the GST is at 28 per cent and cess 15 to 22 per cent. It is too high. If luxury cars are made available to more, we will sell more vehicles and tax revenues will increase" he said.
"We will have more manpower and increase investment in the network. But currently the way it is (like) tax is considered (as) a sin and luxury is not a sin", he said.
"We don't expect growth (in 2019) as opposed to (compared to) last year. We sold 6,463 cars last year.
Ansari said Audi India had a loss in terms of volumes in 2018 due to the unforeseen closure of one of their largest dealers in the NCR and the change ofEuropean emission norms called WLPT, that also led to some delay in introducing new products into India.
He was speaking to reporters after inaugurating a new showroom here.
Ansari said the company's popular model Q2 was one of the brands that may be brought to India under the "homologation scheme" under which the government allows imports of upto 2,500 units without the need to adapt to Indian regulations.
"Q2 could be one of the cars under the scheme that would be tested (in India) under the scheme and see if the acceptance of Q2 is there," he said.
To a query, he said, Audi planned to launch its electric vehicle e-tron in 2020 and it could be advanced if the charging infrastructure was in place.
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