The Supreme Court has recently lifted the ban on diesel vehicles in Delhi. The ban created a chaos among the automakers and led them to downsize their engines. Mahindra & Mahindra also came up with the 1.99-litre mHawk engine for the Scorpio and the XUV500. However, the situation has changed now but Mahindra wants to continue with the 1.99-litre engine on its vehicles offered in the region.
Addressing media persons in Delhi on Tuesday, M&M Executive Director Pawan Goenka said, “For the time being we are continuing with 1.99-litre engine for two reasons. First there is no compromise that the customer has for the 1.99-litre engine therefore there is no reason for us to change to 2.2 litre engine."
"Second, we don't know what the final judgement would be. Right now it is an interim judgement. So we don't want to go back to 2.2-litre and then when some judgement comes again move to 1.99--litre engine," he added.
Nonetheless, the domestic SUV-maker will be ready to shift back to the 2.2-litre powerplants overnight, once there is more clarity on the issue.
On the one per cent environment cess that the automakers will now have to pay on every unit of a 2000cc-plus product sold in Delhi, Goenka said that manufacturers had accepted it because they had no option. The cess is not going to make any difference either way as it will not deter the customers from buying a vehicle nor it will help take on pollution in a big way, he said.
However, the industry is unanimous in the fight against the cess as it feels that singling out of diesel cars as the only thorn in Delhi’s pollution problems is unfair. "By imposing any kind of cess you are in a sense saying that even if you are meeting the regulations you still need to pay a penalty," he said.
