Auto showrooms wear deserted look as buyers wait for GST rollout

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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Car and motorcycle showrooms of all leading brands wore a deserted look today as prospective buyers decided to postpone their purchase to a post-GST date to benefit from tax reduction.

Prices of cars are set to go down by around 2.4 percent and that of two-wheelers by almost 2 percent with the roll-out of GST. Bigger sedans and SUV prices will go down the most at almost 9 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

Most showrooms, therefore, will close early today to close the monthly and quarterly account and to make the switchover to the new GST regime. Showrooms of Maruti Suzuki, Honda, Hero Motocorp, Bajaj, TVS Motors to name a few, had bare minimum customer traffic.

“We do not know the exact price cut yet. Plus, we are hitting the weekend when government offices would be closed. A clear picture can emerge only on Monday,” said a senior sales associate at a Hero Motocorp showroom in Mumbai.

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Despite the more than adequate publicity about the price cut under GST consumers are understood to have benefitted from sky high discounts given by dealers and manufacturers during the last few weeks. This was done to clear existing stock which will get negatively affected by GST.

“In this week alone we sold twice the number we sell in a normal week. Consumers were most eager to know the changes due to GST,” said another sales executive from leading two-wheeler company.

The GST will subsume atleast five taxes, excise, NCCD, CST, VAT and infra cess. Small cars will carry a total tax of 29 percent (28 percent GST + 1 percent cess) as compared to 31.2 percent seen today.

However road tax, insurance, logistic cess and registration charges will be separate and would still have to be borne by the vehicle buyer. These would be over and above the GST rate.