Auto Companies React To Delhi's Ban On Diesel Vehicles

By Rajkamal

Published: Wednesday, December 16, 2015, 19:32 [IST]

The Supreme Court's ban on diesel vehicles that are 2000cc and above has caught a lot of carmakers off guard. Carmakers such as Mahindra and Mercedes-Benz are the ones that are most affected by this ban since most of their diesel vehicles are above 2000cc.

European luxury carmakers have termed the decision as "arbitrary, hasty, and difficult to justify at the global headquarters." Some top officials have even said "India is now an unpredictable market."

Carmakers who are affected by the ban are holding emergency meetings to discuss the future course of action, as Delhi is one of the biggest markets in India for premium cars.

An official said, "We are trying to understand which of our models have been impacted and how can we manage the situation. Dealer inventories are high for some of the models and from 2016, most of the models in the stock will fall in the previous year category."

Vishnu Mathur, the Director General of the Society of Indian Automobile (SIAM) also shared his view on the ban and said taking away BS4 compliant vehicles will only pollute the air more. He also said, "I am quite sure that many foreign companies will not be keen to invest in India. If this is the kind of diesel ban, then who will be ready to invest in the BS5 and BS6 technologies. There will be an immediate re-think on future investment plans."

Some of the cars affected by the ban are:

Mahindra