Maruti Swift to VW Polo – Popular Cars to go Petrol Only; No Diesel
The Indian market will bid adieu to close to a dozen compact cars, SUVs and sedans that run on diesel.
We informed you earlier that Maruti Suzuki is planning to go petrol and CNG only. Maruti Suzuki is in talks with Suzuki to totally cease the production of diesel cars for the Indian market. A new media report claims that not just Maruti, brands like Volkswagen, Tata and others will also phase out small diesel cars from the Indian market.
The report claims that due to the introduction of BSVI emission norms from April 2020, the Indian market will bid adieu to close to a dozen compact cars, SUVs and sedans that run on diesel. Fiat’s 1.3-litre MJD engine currently powers the Maruti Suzuki’s top-selling models including Swift, Dzire, Baleno and Vitara Brezza. This engine will see the end of production by December this year.
The same engine also powers Tata Bolt and Zest. Mahindra & Mahindra’s small 1.2-litre diesel engine, Volkswagen’s 1.5-litre diesel and Toyota’s 1.5-litre diesel will also be phased out from the market by April 2020. Mahindra’s smallest SUV KUV100 is powered by a 1.2-litre diesel engine, while the Volkswagen’s 1.5-litre engine currently powers the Polo, Vento and Rapid. Also See – Maruti Swift and Dzire CNG variants coming soon
These engines won’t be upgraded to meet the upcoming BSVI emission norms that will be introduced on April 1, 2020. Converting small diesel engine to BSVI emission norms will cost around Rs 1.5 lakh, while converting petrol engine to BSVI norms will cost around Rs 30,000. This will increase the price gap between the petrol and diesel cars to Rs 2.5 lakh from the current 1 lakh.
Adding to it, the recent trends suggest that the share of diesel cars is continuously going down. In fact, the diesel cars demand has slipped to a decade low of about 20% of passenger vehicles.
