Lamborghini says super luxury car market growth in India is limited. Here's why

Carmaker Lamborghini sees growth for luxury supercar market being limited in India due to high taxation. The company sells a range of super luxury cars in India with a starting price of ₹3.16 crore, and had recorded its best-ever sales in the country in 2021 at 69 units, beating its previous record in 2019 when it sold a total of 52 units. However, Chairman and CEO of the Italian automaker Stephan Winkelmann believes that taxation needs to be looked into.

When asked what is limiting the growth of super luxury car sales in the country, Winkelmann said, "If we come to the specific of the Indian market, it's clear that the Indian market has, like other high taxation markets, a limit in growth. This is something we have to understand, if we look at what is happening in India."

He added that though the company is on a growth path in India like most of the markets around the world, high taxation is limiting the growth. However, he added, “We're very satisfied with (our) performance as we always said we are not running for a certain number. We want to keep momentum also in the future."

Currently, India taxes automobiles at 28 per cent GST with additional cess ranging from 1 per cent to 22 per cent depending on the type of vehicle. Cars imported as completely built units (CBUs) attract customs duty ranging between 60 per cent and 100 per cent depending on engine size and cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value being less or more than $40,000.

Speaking about global slowdown, the CEO said that while India is a huge market "in the sense of population", Lamborghini is selling less than 100 cars a year. “So it's not really a big change even if the economy is slowing down in India."