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Accepting that there are challenges in converting its diesel engines into Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI) from April, 2020, country’s largest passenger car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), on Thursday said it will discontinue diesel cars.
“From April 1, 2020, we will have no diesel car on sale. Depending on how customers react to BS VI diesel cars — and if we find there is a market of BS VI diesel cars — we will develop such a car within a reasonable period of time,” RC Bhargava, Chairman, MSIL, said, adding that the company would not make smaller than 1.5-litre diesel cars. “The only area which looks in our range of products possible is somewhere around 1,500cc engine. So, if we come back in diesel, it will be in that range and not lower than that because the price difference factor will make such models unaffordable,” he said on the sidelines of a function to announce the quarterly results here.
Petrol variants
In an interview to BusinessLine in January, Bhargava had said that the ‘way things are shaping up, diesel is not for long-term’. The reason is: with BS-VI, the cost of a diesel car will become very similar that of a petrol car, he had said.
Recently, he had said that the company will stop the production of its diesel cars around early next calendar year or this year-end. This is because the deadline for diesel car registration is till March 31, 2020 and it takes time for vehicles to reach different locations across the country.
The company’s best selling utility vehicle Vitara Brezza, which is available only in diesel engine right now, will also get its ‘heart’ change at the earliest with a petrol engine.
BusinessLine recently reported that the new petrol variant of Brezza will be launched around the time of Auto Expo in February along with S-Cross, which is also available only in diesel right now, too.
Hybrid vehicles
Bhargava said the company will continue to develop hybrid vehicles whether it is smart hybrid, strong hybrid or CNG, to compensate the diesel variants.
Meanwhile, MSIL said it has earmarked an investment of ₹4,500 crore for capacity expansion in the current financial year. MSIL had spent around ₹4,000 crore in 2018-19 on capex.
The investment will go into various initiatives, including new product development, research and development and land acquisitions for sales network, it said.
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