Chanchal Pal Chauhan NEW DELHI THE impact of the imposition of the specific excise duty on big cars will be more than originally anticipated. From Monday, bigger cars and SUVs will be dearer by Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000, as auto companies finalise their price tags to adjust the burden of the specific duty slapped by the government. A Rs 20,000 increase on ex-showroom prices is expected on popular cars such as Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Mahindra Logan and Hyundai Elantra, which belong to the 1,500-1,999cc engine capacity range. Vehicles such as Mahindra Scorpio, Tata Safari, Honda Accord, Skoda Superb and Mercedes C Class, which are over 2,000 cc, will be costlier by up to Rs 30,000. The imported high-end sedans like BMW 7Series, Mercedes SLK Class and the SUVs like Toyota Prado, Porsche Cayenne, Mitsubishi Montero and BMW X5 may see prices jump by over Rs 50,000. Government has slapped additional specific duty of Rs 15,000 on vehicles with engine capacity of 1,500-1,999 cc and Rs 20,000 on vehicles of 2,000 cc and more, with immediate effect, on Friday. However, customers will have to shell out higher prices due to the cascading impact, as 12.5% VAT, 2% CST, education cess and octroi on the exfactory prices will be charged over the additional specific duty. The increased component of higher insurance premium and road and registration charges, which are charged on vehicle's ex-showroom prices, will further increase consumer price. Says Honda Siel Car India V-P Jnaneshwar Sen said: "We are calculating the exact price customers will have to pay on Civic, Accord and CRV. The duty is levied on the ex-factory price, which is our dispatches to the dealers. The cascading effect of various levies and duties will be much higher on the final price for the customers.' The impact will also be felt on imported cars, whose countervailing duties will also go up accordingly. "We are working out the total burden of duties (import, countervailing duty, local levies) on our products and the impact is expected to be much higher than what the government has notified. The increase in prices could be up to Rs 50,000 for our popular models like 5Series sedans and X5 range of SUVs,' said a BMW India executive. chanchal.chauhan@timesgroup.com