Monday, July 20, 2020
By Kamal Swami
Maruti Suzuki Focusing On CNG Engines And Not In BS6 Diesel Engines
According to recent industry reports country’s leading car manufacturing company, Maruti Suzuki India Limited is interested in developing CNG variants of its small cars, rather than developing their BS 6 compliant diesel variants. According to authentic sources of the company, going through the existing condition and increasing craze for petrol vehicles and electric mobility developing expensive BS 6 compliant diesel engines will make no sense except increasing the cost of producing vehicles. Commenting on the same Mr. Shashank Srivastava, Executive Director Sales and Marketing MSIL, “There is absolutely no logic in developing a small diesel engine. It is less than 5 percent in the hatchback segment and has reduced considerably in sedans and entry-level SUV segment as now economics does not support it.” However, there are chances that the Indo-Japanese carmaker might plan to develop a BS-VI diesel engine in the coming future after assessing the shift of the market towards sedans and SUVs. In the words of Mr. Srivastava, “Those customers who do not care for economics for running the car they may still be buying the diesel cars and for that, the company has said it is watching the market very closely.”
It would be interesting to know that the company plans to sell ten lakh cars to encourage vehicles based on green technology during the next few years. Detailing the advantage of CNG vehicles over diesel cars, Mr. Srivastava said, “CNG segment grew last fiscal by 7 percent while the overall passenger vehicle industry declined by 18 percent,” he noted. The company currently has eight models that come with factory fitted CNG units.
According to him in the current scenario where there is a slight difference in the cost of petrol and diesel, driving any of these vehicles doesn’t affect much to the customers. In his words, the diesel vehicles which till years back seem economical are no more cost-effective, and therefore buying a diesel car will not offer any extra savings to the buyers. He also added that the share of small diesel cars in the market is below 5%, and diesel engines are now only installed in the upper SUV segment which has a market share of more than 50%.
