Auto Manufacturers are doing well in the country and taking the GDP numbers to new heights. However, that seems to be coming at a cost. Most manufacture are now being penalized for various reasons. However, till the time of writing this report, all manufacturers are now denying any implications in their respective cases.
The allegations by Central Agencies:
Till yesterday, reports had suggested that carmakers like Hyundai, Kia, Honda, Mahindra, Skoda, Nissan, Renault and Force Motors would be fined a whopping Rs 7,300 crore for violating emission norms, known as CAFE norms. The period 2022-23. However, the Korean carmaker confirmed to NDTV that the report is over a month old and the government has not yet acted or issued any compensation for the report. Mahindra said in a regulatory filing to the stock exchange that to its knowledge, no penalties for the alleged violations have been considered or are being considered.
The complaint states that Hyundai Motor will face a maximum penalty of Rs 2,873 crore, Mahindra will be fined Rs 1,788.4 crore, and Kia will face a maximum fine of Rs 1,346 crore. The remaining sanctions were imposed on Honda, Skoda, Nissan, Renault and Force.
The CAFE (Company Average Fuel Efficiency) norms were designed to encourage car manufacturers to produce more efficient vehicles. Under these norms, the average fuel consumption of all cars sold by manufacturers should not exceed 4.78 litres per 100 kilometres and should not exceed 113 grams of CO2 per kilometre. These norms are intended to encourage the production of environmentally friendly and fuel-efficient vehicles, which is why we are seeing an increase in the number of electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles and CNG vehicles. The fine is Rs 10 lakh, Rs 25,000/Rs 50,000 for each vehicle sold.
According to the Reuters report, Volkswagen has been given the notice that the alleged imports that were made by Volkswagen’s India unit, Skoda Auto Volkswagen India. These are for its models the Skoda Superb and Kodiaq. Audi’s A4 and Q5 along with the VW’s Tiguan. According to the notice these items were bought in as parts and not the CKD route. The former has 15% tax while the latter has 35% tax. However, they were later sold as fully assembled cars. The total evasion is 1.4 billion dollars. SAVIPL paid $ 981 million, a shortfall of $1.36 billion. If found guilty, SAVIPL could pay 2.8 billion dollar in penalties as India levies 100% fine on the same. SAVIPL has responded by say they are cooperating with authorities while abiding all laws of every country they operate in.
