4 reasons why Maruti Suzuki chose to drop BS6 diesel engines in India

New Delhi : Maruti Suzuki is India's biggest carmaker company and a couple of months back they had announced that the country will not be working on BS6 diesel engines specially for the small car segment.

The company has now aimed at producing more of CNG and petrol engines.

In an exclusive interview to TOI, executive director sales and marketing Shashank Srivastava pointed out the four prime reasons behind phasing small-displacement Diesel engines:

1. There is absolutely no logic in developing a small diesel engine. It is less than 5% in the hatchback segment and has reduced considerably in sedans and entry-level SUV segment as now economics does not support it.

2. Reduction in the price gap between petrol and diesel fuels, increase in the cost of diesel cars with the coming of BS6 emission norms were some of the major factors responsible for the decline in diesel car sales. The cost differential between petrol and diesel cars which used to be in the range of Rs 70,000-90,000 earlier has now gone up to Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.

3. The economics of running a vehicle on diesel, which was so favourable earlier, has now disappeared. Therefore there is no economic logic for buying a diesel car and that is reflected in the percentage share of diesel cars in the market. From 60 per cent a few years back it has come down to 20 per cent.

4: In small cars, the share of diesel cars is now less than 5 per cent. The only segment where the percentage of diesel cars is above 50 per cent is the upper SUV segment where buyers are not bothered by the economic viability.

On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki has announced that they will be launching an all-new S-Cross BS6 compliant petrol version in Indian market on July 29.