While the Supreme Court on Tuesday has upheld its decision to ban diesel vehicles above 2000cc from Delhi roads till March, the automakers are happy that at least the apex court has agreed to hear them with further documentary facts on the matter.
“We hope for a favourable verdict in the next hearing as Mercedes-Benz vehicles not only comply with the regulatory limits (BS IV), they do so with significant margin,” a Mercedes-Benz India spokesperson told BusinessLine .
The Supreme Court had asked them, “How will you dispute the basic fact that diesel vehicles are not polluting the environment? Are you trying to say that diesel vehicles are non-polluting and only petrol vehicles are polluting?”
To which the companies have argued that the capacity of the engine is not connected to the issue of pollution. Also, it is not necessary that higher engine capacity diesel cars would pollute more than lower capacity engines.
According to industry sources, the car companies have also said that a major cause of air pollution in Delhi-NCR has been the emissions that are emitted from industries, constructions by real estate developers and related waste, and roadside dust.
However, banning sale of these vehicles in Delhi would definitely impact the car markers. For example, 20 per cent of Mercedes-Benz India’s total annual sales came from Delhi. For M&M also, it would be a big impact as majority of its SUVs are using above 2000cc diesel engines.
Having said that, efforts are required from all stakeholders to address the pollution, say analysts, adding that there needs to be a proper policy too.
“More incentives are required to be offered for alternate fuel battery operated vehicles. All old vehicles over 10 years need to be replaced and BS V and VI emission standards needs to be implemented in the next three-six years,” said Abdul Majeed, Partner and auto analyst at Price Waterhouse & Co.
As far as customers are concerned more awareness is required, he said, adding that they need to keep vehicles in good condition and should be ready to pay slightly more to have environment friendly vehicles.