Hyderabad: After the criticism from automobile industry body Siam, Japanese carmaker Honda said on Wednesday that the ban on diesel cars with higher capacity engines has created confusion among people, making them hesitant to buy diesel vehicles.
The Supreme Court had banned diesel vehicles with an engine capacity of above 2,000 cc in Delhi and NCR.
“While Honda’s diesel engines do not fall under the said category, the company is witnessing a trend wherein consumers are hesitant to buy diesel vehicles. As a result, the demand for petrol vehicles in on rise,” said Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice-president (sales and marketing) Honda Cars India Limited here on Wednesday.
Mr Sen was in Hyderabad to launch his company’s new model — Honda BR-V compact SUV. The model’s petrol variants are priced between Rs 8.9 lakh to Rs 12.2 lakh and its diesel variants are in the range of Rs 9.9 lakh to Rs 13.13 lakh.
Mr Sen cautioned the government against ‘ad hoc’ policies, which could impact the growth of the automobile sector in the country.
“The uncertainty in demand is because there is no clarity of policy. This is affecting everybody’s growth... there have been many ad hoc decisions that have been taken. In the auto industry, the investments involved are huge therefore it requires logical, transparent policy which is also long-term in nature,” he said.
Early this week, Toyota Kirloskar Motor vice-chairman Shekar Viswanathan said the ban would be the “worst advertisement of India”. Automobile industry body Siam had also cautioned the government that the ban will be hit country’s image as an investment destination.
