![\"Canada](\"https:\/\/image.cnbcfm.com\/api\/v1\/image\/108258014-17695753351769575332-43722430122-1080pnbcnews.jpg?v=1769575334&w=750&h=422&vtcrop=y\")
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Delhi-based tech startup founder Ashita Gupta is considering purchasing another high-end vehicle, potentially an Audi R8 or Audi RS4, if they become more affordable due to the recent trade deal between India and the European Union. The deal includes New Delhi slashing import duty on European cars gradually to 10% from 70%-110% at present, applicable to a quota of 250,000 vehicles per year and on cars priced above 15,000 euros ($17,952).<\/p>\n
India has long protected its auto market, the world’s third largest, by using high tariffs on imports to safeguard domestic auto companies and encourage global firms to build local manufacturing plants. However, the EU has now secured a lucrative deal for European auto majors, edging out the US in getting New Delhi to drop its hard stance on auto tariffs.<\/p>\n
According to Diwaker Murugan, auto analyst at Omdia, EU brands now have a premium pass to the world’s third-largest car market, while US companies are currently facing a huge levy. Omdia estimates India’s car market to touch 6 million by 2030, fueled by a young population with higher disposable incomes.<\/p>\n
Nearly 95% of cars sold in financial year 2025 were priced below 2 million rupees ($21,756), according to data from S&P Global-owned Indian research and ratings agency Crisil. Even with lowered tariffs, the price of imported European cars will exceed this range as local taxes get added to the final price, limiting the total addressable market for European car companies.<\/p>\n
The top five European luxury brands – Mercedes-Benz, BMW, JLR, Audi, and Volvo – sold 49,000 cars in India in the financial year ended March 2025, compared to total passenger car sales of 4.3 million, according to data from S&P Global-owned Indian research and ratings agency Crisil.<\/p>\n
European car companies dominate the luxury segment, but their overall position is increasingly under pressure with a shrinking market share, said Puneet Gupta, director of technical research at S&P Global Mobility. Indian and Korean manufacturers have aggressively scaled up their presence through capacity expansion, frequent product launches, and rapid network growth, while Europeans have been relatively cautious on investments in the last few years.<\/p>\n
The free trade agreement has caused worry among Indian auto investors, as the move to slash tariffs exposes market leaders to increased competition in high-margin segments. The true battleground is the Premium SUV segment, priced above 2.3 million rupees, where European brands may create a confrontation with Indian flagship SUVs.<\/p>\n
Shares of leading India auto companies, including Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai Motor India, Maruti Suzuki, and Tata Motors, ended down between 1.5% and 4% after the deal was announced. Local manufacturers will see competition as the gap between high-end models from Indian OEMs and entry-level models of EU OEMs narrows, according to Citi.<\/p>\n
We’ve always leveraged India as a strong innovation hub… If I take the energy supply chains, there are only two places on the planet where we have core research along with the energy players. One is Illinois in the United States, and second is Gurgaon in India, said Anant Maheswari, president and chief executive of global regions at Honeywell.<\/p>\n
Indian stocks were flat amid mixed trading in the region after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady. The Nifty 50 index and the BSE Sensex were little changed on Thursday as of 1 p.m. local time, and are down over 3% so far this year.<\/p>\n
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Introduction to the India-EU Trade Deal New Delhi-based tech startup founder Ashita Gupta is considering purchasing another high-end vehicle, potentially an Audi R8 or Audi RS4, if they become more affordable due to the recent trade deal between India and the European Union. The deal includes New Delhi slashing import duty on European cars gradually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/image.cnbcfm.com\/api\/v1\/image\/108257387-1769496862101-gettyimages-2257862610-AFP_944A4XL.jpeg?v=1769504453&w=1920&h=1080","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2713","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-investing-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2715,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2713\/revisions\/2715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}