Monday, February 27, 2012
By Manoj Kumawat
Twenty cities go BSIV this March 1, Maruti 800 out, BSIII model cars also affected
India will be walking a step further in becoming a green nation with the Bharat Stage 4 (BS IV) emission norms coming into force from March 1 in more cities. With the addition of three more cities, a total of twenty cities in India will be switching to BSIV norms this March. The government targets 50 cities to come under BSIV by 2015. With this, there will be some cars such as Maruti 800, Premier Rio BSIII, and Chevrolet Tavera BSIII versions besides other BSIII versions of cars will not be able to sell in these 20 cities.
Ankaleshwar (Gujarat), Hissar (Haryana) and Bharatpur (Rajasthan) are the three additions inflating the total number of BSIV cities to twenty. The BSIV norms are stricter than BSIII and thus the 20 cities will be using petrol and diesel with less sulphur content which causes air pollution when used in cars. In order to match the standards BSIV standards, the petroleum ministry has asked the oil companies to start supply of BSIV compliant diesel and petrol in these cities from March 1.
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Notably, BSIV norms came into effect in 2010 in 13 major cities including all metros and other important cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat besides other cities. These are the cities that constitute 40 percent of the demand for cars in India. Meanwhile, BSIII norms were applicable in rest of India. On the other hand, in order to supply BSIV compliant fuel, oil companies have upgraded their refineries investing Rs 32,000 crore. The said investment will be helping the companies to supply BSIV fuel to 50 cities across the nation by 2015.
With the extension of BSIV norms in 50 cities by 2015, Maruti 800 will not be sold in these cities. however, Maruti is seriously in the process of bringing in a new car, perhaps Maruti Cervo, as a replacement of India’s best selling hatchback.
