The court order also says that 250 diesel and 1,250 petrol vehicles which conform to Euro I standards may be registered per month from June 1 this year to April 1, 2000. After that date only vehicles which conform to Euro II norms will be registered in the National Capital Region which include Delhi and surrounding areas. The government's plan was to implement Euro emission norms over a much longer time period - Euro I norms from April 1, 2000 and Euro II from April 1, 2005.
Indian auto major and market leader Maruti Udyog Limited is going to be worst hit. Except for export models, none of the models of Maruti conform to Euro I norms. Also, 45 to 50 per cent of the automobile sales in the country are affected in the NCR region. Maruti Udyog Limited is a joint venture between Zuzuki Motors of Japan and Government of India.
After the Supreme Court order, MUL sources said that it will advance its program for modifying the various models to make them comply with the Euro I emission norms. Though export models of Maruti has multi-point fuel injection (mpfi) engines which conform to euro-i norms, the company sources its components from Denso in Japan
Companies like Telco, Hyundai, Daewoo, General Motors, Ford Motors, Ind Auto and Honda will gain from the order on emission norms. The models of these companies, which already conform to the euro-i standards, are likely to accelerate their process of achieving Euro-II by the end of this year. Mercedes Benz and Toyota are the only two companies which have already achieved the advanced euro-ii levels. Of the monthly average sales of 32,000 to 33,000 units of various Maruti models, nearly 15,000 to 16,000 units are sold in Delhi and NCR per month.
The manufacturers lobby has gone for the usual image building exercise. After the court order they have come out with statements saying "environment is an important aspect of the social obligation of the industry and the Supreme Court's order would only ensure that companies accelerate their on-going program to develop environment-friendly technologies."
Go To Page: 1 2
