Maruti Suzuki to phase out diesel cars in India from April 2020

New Delhi : Buyers who wish to own a diesel variant of a Maruti Suzuki car have less than a year left to make a choice as the company has announced that it will stop selling the diesel cars after April 2020.

Maruti Suzuki, which is the largest car maker in the country, on Thursday, announced plans to discontinue selling all diesel cars in the country from April 1, 2020, citing uncertainty over demand for such vehicles due to “significant” increase in price once the new BS VI emission norms kick in.

“From April 1, we will have no diesel car on sale… Depending on how customers react to BS VI diesel vehicles next year... if we find that there is a market for such cars, we will develop a BS VI diesel vehicle in a reasonable period of time,” the company’s Chairman R.C. Bhargava said.

He added that this year is the last chance for shoppers to buy diesel cars at low prices. “If you wait till next year, you will have to pay a substantially higher price. So if I was a diesel car fan, I would certainly buy a diesel car this year and not wait.”

Currently, 23% of the total Maruti Suzuki sales come from diesel cars. During 2018-19, the company sold a total of 4.63 lakh diesel-powered vehicles.