Added on March 30, 2017  The News Wheel   , , , ,
No Comments

India Bans Sales of Lower-Efficiency Vehicles Starting in Two Days

Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Text Size Print This Page

India has been making a lot of noises recently that it wanted to clean up its act, air-pollution-wise, with various levels of car bans with various levels of success.

 

The country with one of the world’s most-polluted capital cities also decided to crack down on automakers building and selling more polluting vehicles, back in 2015 telling them that from April 1st in 2017 onward, they would have to make vehicles that are Euro-IV compliant (a set of emissions regulations instated by the European Union in 2005—the EU now has made it to Euro VI).

Then, on Wednesday, three days from that deadline, India’s top court has also banned the sale of the more-polluting vehicles starting from April 1st.

 

That presents a small problem for automakers: some of them still have a huge bunch of the more-polluting vehicles sitting in dealership lots, comprising a total of more than 800,000 vehicles, mostly two-wheelers, which on Saturday will become unsellable inside the country. They (for now, I suppose) have a total worth of about 120 billion rupees, or about $1.85 billion.

This has, unsurprisingly, irked vehicle manufacturers, whose shares have plummeted since the decision.

new jaguar badge logo growling face

That includes the people who make these guys

Vinod Dasari, president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers and managing director of Ashok Leyland (a large Indian commercial vehicle manufacturer), told TV channel BTVi frankly that, “I don’t think this much inventory can be sold off in the next couple of days.”

However, the court seems unmoved by their plight, saying in its judgement that health concerns of citizens take precedence over any financial losses to the companies.

News Source: Reuters