India’s carmakers given till 2017 to meet new fuel efficiency standards

India plans to give carmakers till 2017 to meet the new fuel efficiency standards that are to be announced in the next few months, local media reported. After this grace period, companies may not only face penalties for non-compliance, but may also have to stop manufacturing completely.
“Car companies have already been informed of the fuel efficiency norms and they have time till 2017 to make the changes. Those who are not able to meet these standards will have to stop manufacturing as their vehicles cannot be registered on Indian roads, much like what is followed in case of emission norms,” a senior official in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) was quoted as saying.
Car prices are expected to rise 10-15% after the fuel efficiency norms are enforced. “Small companies will fare the worst in getting access to expensive high-end technology to meet the new norms. It is not easy to meet these requirements in India as we cannot introduce low-friction tires because of bad roads and there is limited scope to use smaller engines with turbochargers like Europe because our engines are already much smaller,” an official from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said.
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) designed India’s fuel efficiency norms as a corporate/fleet average system. A fixed formula would decide the fuel efficiency target for each company based on the average weight of its entire fleet.
The final implementation of the norms will be under the Motor Vehicles Act (1988), which is under the MoRTH. Initially, the target had been to announce a fuel efficiency labeling system in April this year for easy understanding by consumers, followed by a five-star rating system for cars (based on efficiency) similar to air conditioners and refrigerators.
“The norms got delayed because the auto industry had issues with how we had designed it. There is a cost to improvement, which the industry may not be comfortable with. It’s a combination of two acts, the Energy Conservation Act and the MVA, so its takes time for two ministries to work in tandem,” a BEE official said.
(April 26, 2013)