Read the following statement carefully and identify the conclusion that follows. Statement: The government has increased import duty on luxury cars. Conclusions: I. Imported luxury cars will become more expensive. II. Local car manufacturers will stop making budget cars.
- (a)Only Conclusion I follows
- (b)Only Conclusion II follows
- (c)Both I and II follow
- (d)Neither I nor II follows
Answer
Why
Correct — A.
Rule: a conclusion follows if the statement, with common knowledge, makes it true without extra assumptions.
A higher import duty adds to the cost of bringing a luxury car in, so imported luxury cars become costlier. I follows.
II jumps to budget cars made locally, which the statement never touches. II does not follow.
Only Conclusion I follows → option (a).
Why the others are wrong
- (b)Only Conclusion II follows — Budget cars made locally are a different product from imported luxury cars. A duty on imports forces no local maker to stop anything, so II is a leap.
- (c)Both I and II follow — Both needs II, and II is about local budget cars, which the statement's duty on imported luxury cars says nothing about.
- (d)Neither I nor II follows — Neither would deny I. A tax charged on importing a car raises what it costs to bring in, so a higher price follows directly.
Concept
An import duty is a tax on goods brought into a country. Raising it makes imports costlier, the direct effect the statement supports.
A conclusion must stay inside the statement's scope, which is imported luxury cars. II moves to a different product (budget cars), a different actor (local makers) and a drastic outcome (stopping production), none of which the statement mentions.
Strictly, a seller could absorb the extra duty, but cost passing into price is the natural reading, and it is the reading the key takes.
Key facts
- An import duty is a customs duty charged on goods brought into a country.
- A conclusion must follow from the statement itself, not from a guess about other products or other firms.
- A drastic word such as stop in a conclusion needs strong support from the statement.
Study next
Common traps
- Accepting II because costlier imports sound as if they would reshape local car making
- Choosing Neither because the statement does not say in so many words that prices will rise
18 Sep 2025, 12:30, Reasoning Q.13 has the same shape: petrol costlier due to international oil prices gives I, prices linked to global markets, while II, the government having no control, overreaches (keyed Only I).
19 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.13 accepts that India is not self-sufficient in oil and rejects all oil being imported (keyed Only I).
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