Hyderbad getting hooked to luxury cars

Over 900 luxury cars, with a price tag between Rs 20 lakh and Rs two crore, were registered in the state in the past 11 months. Not surprisingly, Hyderabad logged the maximum registrations with over 500 luxury cars, while Karimnagar zoomed away with the numero uno position by registering a Rs 2.01 crore worth Porsche 911 Turbo.

For the record, this year 110 Mercs, 82 BMWs, 94 Audis, four Porsches, 19 Land Rovers, four Land Cruisers and 14 Volkswagens were registered in Greater Hyderabad. Till November, 87,574 four-wheelers were registered at Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) across the state and over 50 per cent (44,000) were registered in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts alone.

Among the 87,574 cars, 900 vehicles are in the luxury vehicle category, cost upwards of Rs 20 lakhs. Even in this category, more than half (513) were registered in the state capital.

About 800 customers squandered a mind-boggling Rs 280.59 crore this year on purchasing these metal beauties. And, they coughed up life tax to the tune of Rs 39.28 crore to the Regional Transport Authority (RTA).

Mercedes Benz seems to be the most pouplar brand with car enthusiasts as about 170 vehicles were lapped up this year followed by Audi (125) and BMW (120).

Also, 25 people bought Land Rovers, whose price ranges between Rs 34 lakh and Rs 1.13 crore. Toyota Kirloskar’s Land Cruiser, ranging between Rs 45-87 lakh, found favour with seven buyers in the state. Six persons took home Jaguars, which come in the price band of Rs 49-86 lakh, while 20 people drove home Volkswagens’ different cars in the price range of Rs 20-52 lakhs.

Over 50 per cent of these luxury cars were registered in Hyderabad (377) and Ranga Reddy (136) districts, followed by coastal Andhra districts like Visakhapatnam (33), Krishna (23), Guntur (14) and East Godavari (12).

Barring Hyderabad and RR district, other Telangana districts along with Rayalaseema and North Coastal Andhra districts are at the bottom of the luxury list. Districts where luxury seems to be less affordable are Adilabad and Kadapa (2 each), Mahbubnagar, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Nizamabad and Chittoor (3 each), Anantapur, Khammam and Warangal with five luxury car registrations each. So going by the luxury car sales figures, it seems all is well for the rich in AP.