Chennai sees surge in high-end cars, bikes

TNN / Feb 28, 2023, 04:52 IST

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There has been a 53% increase in the number of high-end luxury cars and two-wheelers registered in Tamil Nadu in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to official data. Three regional transport offices (RTOs) in the city accounted for more than one-fourth of the Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Aston Martins, Bentleys, Porsches and Ducatis registered. The RTOs at KK Nagar (West), Ayanavaram (Central) and Thiruvanmiyur (South) pipped the usual chart toppers Coimbatore and Tirupur.

Chennai sees surge in high-end cars, bikes

Image used for representational purpose only

CHENNAI: There has been a 53% increase in the number of high-end luxury cars and two-wheelers registered in Tamil Nadu in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to official data.
Three regional transport offices (RTOs) in the city accounted for more than one-fourth of the Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Aston Martins, Bentleys, Porsches and Ducatis registered.The RTOs at KK Nagar (West), Ayanavaram (Central) and Thiruvanmiyur (South) pipped the usual chart toppers Coimbatore and Tirupur.

Gone are the days when premium vehicles were taken all the way to Puducherry for registration to evade taxes. Ever since a couple of movie actors Fahad Fazil and Amala Paul were booked by the Kerala police in 2017-18 for using forged documents to register their vehicles in the Union territory, transport authorities have tightened the noose.

A Sivakumar, Puducherry transport commissioner, said, “Earlier, notary affidavits were considered as proof for registering such vehicles. But now, we have made local address proof such as Aadhaar card mandatory and have penalized violators. Also, the tax difference has been reduced”.
Road tax on ex-showroom prices is 7% in Puducherry and 15% in Tamil Nadu. In addition to this, anyone importing a car or bike pays 100% of the vehicle cost as import duty to central excise and another 18% on it to the TN commercial taxes department as entry tax.

In case it is a locally manufactured high-end vehicle (costing 10 lakh or more), the owner pays GST, surcharges, insurance, registration fees and development charges etc. “Overall, for every 1 lakh spent on buying a new premium vehicle, one pays 145 as taxes and other charges here,” said S Rajvel from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association.
Apart from local industrialists, celebrities and politicians, those from neighbouring states are now getting their vehicles registered in Tamil Nadu with the help of agents as road tax rate (15%) is lower compared to Karnataka (18%) and Kerala (20%), said transport officials.

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