Going against the hopes of Indian auto industry, especially the ones who have big engined diesel models in their portfolio, the Supreme Court has extended the Delhi diesel ban until the next hearing. The ban prevents registration of diesel vehicles with engine displacement of over 2,000 cc in the NCR.
The interim ruling initially had a validity of 90 days which ended yesterday but based on the results, the SC was to decide on whether to extend it or not. The extension of the ban would affect sales of several automakers, especially Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, etc., whose top sellers have big displacement diesel engines.
Within the few weeks of the ban, Mahindra & Mahindra came up with a 1.99L mHawk diesel engine for its Scorpio and XUV500 to circumvent the SC ruling. Now that the ban is still on, we expect more affected car makers to resort to this route.
Not all automakers are disappointed with the apex court’s move. Volvo Cars India whose portfolio is full of sub-2.0L diesel cars has nothing to complain about. Reacting to the extension, Tom von Bonsdorff, Managing Director, Volvo Auto India said:
At Volvo Cars, we always aim to provide the most efficient and environment-friendly cars across the world. All our models, including ones available in India, comply with the most stringent global emission norms which is the EURO 6 standard. From the entry-level V40 to the latest 7-seater Luxury SUV XC90 is available in India under 2L engines, In fact, the XC90 is the only full-sized Luxury SUV that is available in sub 2L engine.
When the SC came up with the ban in December 2015, Automakers argued that diesel cars are not the leading pollutants but apparently the argument was not convincing enough.
