Hinting once again that there is a need for greater policy clarity on the future course of action, especially for electric vehicles, the country’s largest passenger car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), on Monday said this was necessary to make these vehicles affordable for customers.

“People expect good, affordable and value-for-money vehicles in India. We need more communication with the government; but unfortunately, there was not much time before GST implementation. What is better for the country and better for the customer will have to be reviewed again with the government,” Kenichi Ayukawa, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, MSIL, told reporters here at a select media briefing.

He said apart from a transparent and feasible policy, there is need for a lot of infrastructure for electric vehicles to be a successful mode of transportation in India.

There is a space for making good electric vehicles ‘affordable’ — priced at ₹5-10 lakh — as people expect them at that range. But for that, there need to be a lot of studies, as otherwise “it will be very difficult”.

“Nobody would like to buy a ₹1-lakh car which is not feasible for daily use. We would need refuelling/charging stations at every 10 km for such cars.,” Ayukawa said.

The government should rethink on the GST on hybrid cars as the new rates have made the firm’s mild-hybrid vehicles such as Ciaz and Ertiga costlier by over ₹1 lakh, he added.

Under the new tax regime, hybrid vehicles are in the same slab as luxury cars, at 28 per cent GST plus 15 per cent cess. At 43 per cent, the total tax incidence on these vehicles is higher than the previous effective tax rate of 30.3 per cent.

Ayukawa said the government’s ambitious plan for an all-electric car fleet by 2030 needs more clarities and doable guidelines.

Meanwhile, the company announced revamping of its network channels, and said it will soon open standalone service outlets for its premium retail chain Nexa to enhance customer experience.

The company also plans to set up 300 independent Nexa service outlets by 2019-20. For its used car business, ‘True Value’, the company will open 150 outlets by March.