Why Ford Mustang is priced 3 times more in India than the US

Ford India today launched the iconic 'American' muscle car Mustang in India. The Mustang in India will be available only in one variant, ie the GT Fastback.

This comes with 5.0-litre Ti-VCT V8 engine which generates power of 396bhp and 515Nm of torque.

The car in the country is priced at Rs 65 lakh ex-showroom Delhi and Rs 66.5 lakh ex-showroom Mumbai.

At this price the car is priced nearly 3 times higher than in the US at $32,645 or Rs 21.92 lakh.

One of the reasons for this high price the car is available via completely built-up unit (CBU) route. Meaning that it will be imported in India from the Flat Rock assembly plant in the US. This will attract some high custom duties.

While the basic custom duty for imported CBU of passenger cars, jeep or multi utility vehicles is 60%, there could also be an additional custom duty of 32% and special additional duty of 4%. The total custom duty is at 119.65%.

This should take the price to Rs 48.15 lakh, which is still lower than the price it is being sold in India.

It still does not justify the high price of Mustang in India.

In fact, those looking to buy the car in Maharashtra will have to shell out more with the 20% RTO taxes for imported vehicles. In addition to this, there may be additional taxes imposed for those looking to buy the car in Mumbai.

Some of the other competitors in India will include the Audi TT, BMW Z4 and the much awaited Nissan GT-R. The price of these cars too are in this same range and some being higher. For instance the Audi TT is priced at Rs 60.34 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), while the BMW Z4 is priced higher than the Mustang at Rs 70 lakh. The Nissan GT-R in fact is expected to priced much higher at Rs 90 lakh.

However, the Audi TT and BMW Z4 engine has a much lower horsepower.