Only Toyota strong hybrid vehicles (Innova Hycross, Hyryder, Camry) bought from Espirit Toyota, registered in Uttar Pradesh, are eligible for 100% road tax waiver
India is emerging as a major automotive market globally and poses as a lucrative proposition for car manufacturers. There has been a major push for electrification in the recent past by Indian Government. To further boost EV sales, there are many incentives and subsidies like RTO tax waivers that EVs enjoy. Hybrids miss out on these. Or do they?
Toyota Strong Hybrid Vehicles Get 100% Road Tax Waiver?
In a rather bizarre turn of events, a Toyota dealer based in Delhi NCR region is claiming to offer 100% road tax waiver on strong hybrid cars. Yes, you read that right. 100% waiver of road tax for strong hybrid cars making them significantly cheaper to buy when OTR prices are brought into the picture.
We’re talking about a Delhi NCR based Toyota official dealer called Espirit Toyota. The dealership is attracting a lot of attention with its marketing material. “Drive Hybrid, Support Environment and Save Big”, Espirit Toyota’s marketing material on social media read which was posted around 5 days ago.
Espirit Toyota is promising 100% road tax waiver making Camry executive sedan, up to Rs 4.4 lakh cheaper, Innova Hycross up to Rs 3.1 lakh cheaper and Hyryder up to Rs 2 lakh cheaper. These are exciting offers and should attract buyers and boost sales. Notably, Toyota Vellfire is not included in the offer, which is also a strong hybrid vehicle.
However, there is a catch. Espirit Toyota is promising to waive 100% road tax for Uttar Pradesh state registrations only. This is very interesting and suggests that UP State Government have come up with a scheme or something of that sort to boost strong hybrid car sales.
It has to be noted that Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has been lobbying to reduce GST for strong hybrid vehicles to 12%, from the 45% rate implied currently. If materialised, this will be a nation-wide implementation rather than at the hands of various State Governments. No talks about negating road tax for strong hybrid vehicles yet from Nitin Gadkari.
What is this offer?
As of now, it is unsure whether this is a dealer level offer, or UP Government is cooking a special incentive for strong hybrid vehicles. Either way, this will significantly reduce up-front costs for strong hybrid vehicles and lure more buyers into strong hybrid vehicles. Up until now, only electric vehicles enjoyed a 100% waiver of road tax and the same might apply to strong hybrid vehicles (not confirmed).
If materialised, we would like it to be a nationwide incentive rather than dependent on State Governments to implement it. For reference, Toyota Camry is a hybrid only and starts from Rs 46.17 lakh (Ex-sh). Hybrid variants of Innova Hycross start from Rs 25.97 lakh (Ex-sh) and Hyryder from Rs 16.66 lakh (Ex-sh).
