Car sales rev up on festive spirit, despite cess bump

It was widely expected that the GST Council will hike cess by 10% on sedans and SUVs

Car makers continue to see a growth in bookings and enquiries from customers in spite of an increase of up to seven per cent in cess more than a week ago. 

Automakers said the current demand was aided by the festive season and any negative impact of the cess might not be visible before November.

“The increase in cess is lower than what the manufacturers and customers were anticipating,” said N Raja, director and senior vice-president (sales & marketing) at Toyota. “We continue to see a growth and pickup in demand even after the cess turned effective from September 11.