As diesel vehicles are fading away in every segment (including hatchback, compact SUV and premium SUV), car manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors are expanding their CNG product portfolio. Speaking to Autocar, Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director at Tata Motors PV and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, said that the company will bring in “CNG in segments where diesel is existing.” Its surely a smart decision to cash in the opportunity. CNG fuel not only complies to the new emission standards, but lowers the CAFÉ score as well.
While Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Toyota, Skoda and Volkswagen gradually removed smaller diesel engines from their portfolio, Mahindra and Tata are still betting big on the diesel SUVs. In fact, Tata Motors invested on its 1.5L diesel engine to meet the BS6 Phase 2 norms. The same motor does duty in the Altroz hatch and Nexon. Question is how Tata did that? Well, the carmaker used the comparatively less expensive passive SCR (selective catalytic reduction) solution to make its engine BS6 Phase 2-compliant.
The report further states that Tata’s updated BS6 Phase II diesel engine “barely cleared the regulations by a tiny margin.” It fuels the speculation of phasing out of the diesel-powered Altroz and Nexon variants. It is most likely to happen in the next round of regulations. Shailesh Chandra has revealed that the company is aware of the fact. As of now, it is taking advantage in both segments (premium hatchback and compact SUV) where diesel is vanishing or vanished.
After the Altroz CNG, the carmaker will introduce the CNG version of the Tata Punch that’s likely to be followed by the Nexon. The Tata Nexon is ready to receive a facelift in August 2023. Its CNG version could be rolled out at the same time. Tata has clearly denied any chance of Harrier CNG and Safari CNG. Both SUVs with the 170bhp, 2.0L Multijet diesel engine are generating decent volume for the carmaker.
