Honda will upgrade both of its existing diesel engines to meet stricter BS-VI emission norms. Infact, Honda uses these diesel engines in most of their cars.
With the BS-VI emission norms coming into effect in less than an year from April, 2020, automakers are contemplating over various engines that they offer in their vehicles. Maruti Suzuki has already announced that they would discontinue with their diesel engines while Tata and Mahindra are pondering to discontinue with their small diesel engines as well. Honda, on the other hand, have said that they will continue selling diesel engines even after the BS-VI emission norms come into effect.
According to a senior official of Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL), Honda will upgrade the two diesel engines they have in their line-up to meet the stricter emission norms. As a matter of fact, these two diesel engines power a lot of cars from Honda including the Amaze, City, WR-V, BR-V, Civic and CR-V. Honda, in fact, plans to start rolling out models with the upgraded BS-VI engines in both petrol and diesel guise from the fourth quarter of this fiscal year.
“From our experience, for the fuel choice among petrol or diesel, 80 percent of customers make a rational choice based on consideration of driving distance and recovery period. However, there are still 20 percent customers who make an emotional choice towards a particular fuel,” HCIL Senior Vice President and Director (Marketing & Sales) Rajesh Goel told PTI. He also added that they would definitely cater to the 20% buyers who make an emotional choice.
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With the implementation of the BS-VI emission norms, the price gap between petrol and diesel would further widen. However, diesel engines would not phase out immediately and Honda would continue manufacturing and selling diesel cars based on the market demand.
The company currently has two diesel engines in their line-up – a 1.5L, diesel engine which powers the Amaze, WR-V, City and BR-V and a 1.6L, diesel engine which powers the Civic and the CR-V. All these models are also available with petrol engine options.
With the BS-VI emission norms, diesel cars would certainly get more expensive and all manufacturers are contemplating the line-up of powertrains they would offer in their vehicles. Hybrid and EVs are also becoming quite popular these days.
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Honda is already working on the gradual switch over from BS-IV engines to BS-VI engines and would be a key priority during this financial year. Also, the recently launched petrol models of the Civic and CR-V are already BS-VI compliant. Along with Honda, Ford has also said that they would continue selling diesel engines in India.
