The Indian government has announced that starting April 1st 2010, 13 cities will need to introduce vehicles only with Bharat stage BS IV emission norms compliance.
The implications for this rule from the government have many
ramifications. One is that Maruti has decided to completely stop the
production of Maruti 800 that was once the lifeline of the Indian car
Industry .Maruti claim that the 800 cc engine would be difficult to comply with the more stringent BS IV standards and any changes to the current engine would only increase the costs drastically.
In addition , some prominent manufacturers such as Ford and Tata still have not upgraded to BS IV engines. The Ford Ikon Tdci and the petrol versions are only compliant with Bharat Stage -III norms . This would mean that all the new cars of Ford Ikon would have to shift the customer base from the current 13 cities ( Mumbai, Delhi , Hyderabad,Bangalore etc) to tier 2 cities .It could also mean significant losses in case the manufacturers dont upgrade to BS IV immediately to tap the customers of these 13 cities..
The BS-IV diesel engines use an extra particulate filter to reduce emissions and this would mean that all the new diesel and petrol vehicles would have an increased price tag.Rumour has it that the BS-IV vehicles could cost around 10000 to 20000 INR more than the BS-III vehicles.The 2nd hand market of these 13 cities could also take a big blow as the customers would only want to buy a BS-IV compliant vehicle.Any new registration in the RTO of these 13 cities would only allow a BS-IV vehicle .
The Bharat stage IV vehicles also need a BS-IV compliant fuel which would mean that all the Oil companies would supply the Bharat stage IV fuel that contains lesser sulphur.But again the reduced emissions would pinch the car owners’ pockets as the new fuel cost more than the current fuels supplied. It also remains to be seen as to what happens to the huge number of vehicles that are already BS-III or BS-II compliant. It would seem highly infeasible to urge the BS-II and BS-II car owners to ugrade their engines by shelling out unwanted money.
