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Recently the Supreme Court of India restricted the sale of BS-III compliant vehicles in India with effect from April 1, 2017 and asked all auto makers to strictly stop the production of such vehicles. The order by Supreme Court not only stunned all the auto makers but also compelled them to determine the new strategy for rolling out their existing stocks in the international market where the sale of BS-III vehicles was feasible.

 

 

Going through the strictness adopted by the government of India, the auto makers have now started manufacturing the vehicles strictly according to norms of BS-IV. The strict implementation of orders of Supreme Court has benefited the Indian auto industry in two ways, at one side the vehicles running at the road are not polluting the environment on the other side auto makers are conscious about the government policies and regulations about the manufacturing of vehicles in future. Keeping this thing in concern, the manufacturers are not only manufacturing vehicles according existing scenario but have also started testing vehicles keeping the upcoming conditions in concern.

 

This situation has created the lines of tension on the heads of all automakers and they are struggling to cater the situation so that in future they do not have to face the situation which they had faced during the implantation of BS-IV vehicles. With production of Bharat Stage VI vehicles yet to commence in next three years auto manufacturers are finding it difficult to understand the norms that would be followed while manufacturing such vehicles. Commenting on this Mr. Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd said, “It’s akin to expecting someone to climb Mount Everest in a month”. The responsibilities of Mr. Wadhera at M&M includes   upgrading and overhauling the entire manufacturing ecosystem to ensure it can handle several thousand tests, calibration and validation and also fits in well with the technology choices, in cost effective way. 

 

But, now the question arises that why auto makers are so much concerned about the implementation of BS-VI norms and what makes BS-VI different from BS-IV. An answer to this question in simple words can introduction of high defined technologies that minimize the pollution generated by the vehicles and comply with the specified limit. It also involves vast technical updates that should be followed while developing an engine for different vehicles. It would be interested to know that although the auto makers have still three more years to face the situation but both Wadhera from M&M and Timothy Leverton, Chief Technology Officer at Tata Motors Ltd at competing against the time to make this challenge a huge success of their respective careers.

 

The task of developing such vehicles is more complex for the manufacturers who have their vehicles representing different segment varying from hatchbacks, sedans, SUVs, compact SUVs, two-wheelers etc. Having representation in each segment means need of huge manpower and time to develop the required facilities for successful execution of the project.