Tata Motors is redesigning its existing big engines to shrink them under the 2.0-litre capacity threshold. The move comes after the Supreme Court announcement to extend the ban on diesel cars in NCR indefinitely.
Environmental protection is the latest hot-word doing the rounds in the board-rooms of automotive companies. The government and various agencies also play their part in shaping the policy of the Indian automobile sector to make it greener. One such decision was taken by Supreme Court in December to ban the sale of diesel vehicles with engines larger than 2000cc, which was extended in March for an indefinite period. Different companies responded to this announcement in their own way and urgency, the latest being Tata Motors which has now decided to downsize its big diesel engines to side-step the ban.
Tata Motors has decided to follow the Mahindra route and re-engineer its bigger engines and bring down their size to less than 2.0-litres in capacity. The company says that reworking the current engine is easier and cost effective as development of a whole new engine takes almost a year. Though it did not specify how much the move would cost the company or a date when it expects to introduce the new engines.
It is only after the decision of Supreme Court to extend the ban on sale of diesel cars with engine capacity larger than 2.0-litres even after the earlier deadline of March 2016 that Tata Motors has decided to act. Many believe that the move will be reciprocated by other authorities all over the country. The company says that the engines are being re-worked only for the Tata brand of vehicles and not for Jaguar and Land Rover cars.
The company is following the footsteps of Mahindra which introduced the 1.99-litre mHawk engine for its XUV500 and Scorpio SUVs for sale in NCR. The decision of banning the sale of cars was taken by the authorities after the pollution levels in the capital reached unprecedented levels and the court had resorted to compare living in Delhi akin to living in a gas chamber.
Tata Motors To Downsize Its Big Diesel Engines
– Tata Motors to redesign its big diesel engines and shrink their size to sidestep the NCR ban
– The company said that they are not making a completely new engine as it takes almost a year
– Tata Motors did not specify how much this will cost or what is the tentative date for the same
– Earlier Mahindra followed the same strategy and introduced the 1.99-litre mHawk engine for its big SUVs
