Maruti to phase out all diesel cars from April next year
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Maruti Suzuki garners nearly 23% of its annual sales from diesel cars
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The carmaker also today announced a hike in prices of some of its models
Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest vehicle manufacturer, today announced that it will stop manufacturing diesel vehicles from April 1, 2020 when the new BS 6 emission norms will be introduced. The high cost of upgrading existing diesel engines to the BS 6 norms propelled the company to take such a decision.
The company will try to focus on compressed natural gas (CNG) and hybrid technology driven vehicles to compensate the vacuum created by the phasing-out of diesel vehicles.
Mint was the first to report on Feb 14, 2019 that Maruti was in talks with its parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation for discontinuation of diesel vehicles from 2020.
According to R C Bhargava, chairman, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, from April next year the company will stop manufacturing diesel vehicles since substantially higher development cost will not make diesel a viable option for consumers.
“We have taken this decision so that in 2022 we are able to meet the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency norms and higher share of CNG vehicles will help us comply with the norms. I hope the union government’s policies will help grow the market for CNG vehicles," added Bhargava.
Apart from that, the company reported a 4.6% year-on-year decline in net profit to ₹1,795 crore for the quarter ending March 31, 2018 as a result of high commodity and forex costs and increased discounts offered by the company to attract buyers since vehicle sales remain subdued.
The total vehicle sales of the company increased by just 0.4% year-on-year to 4,28,863 units while the net sales or revenue dropped by 0.7% year on year to 20,737.5 crore. The operating margins contracted by 300 basis points due to increase in commodity cost and discounts.
In the full year FY 19, the New Delhi-based company reported 2.9% decease in net profit to ₹7,500.6 crore while the revenues grew by just 6.3% to ₹8,3026.5 crore.
According to Ajay Seth, Maruti's executive director, Finance, overall increased discounts offered to customers and commodity costs had an adverse impact on the financials of the company in FY 19 and the company will cut costs in different part of its operations to stabilise the operating margins in FY 2020.
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May 13: Karnataka reports 35,297 new COVID-19 cases, 344 deaths
Dakshina Kannada records 812 positive Covid-19 cases, five deaths
Bengaluru, May 13: Karnataka reported 35,297 new cases of COVID-19 and 344 deaths on Thursday, taking the total number of infections to 20,88,488 and the toll to 20,712, the Health department said.
The day also saw 34,057 patients getting discharged after recovery.Of the 35,297 fresh cases reported on Thursday, 15,191 were from Bengaluru Urban alone.
On Thursday, 15,191 new cases were reported in Bengaluru while 16,084 people recovered from Covid-19.
Sixteen districts reported 5 or less fatalities due to Covid-19, Health Minister K Sudhakar tweeted.
As of May 13 evening, cumulatively 20,88,488 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 20,712 deaths and 14,74,678 discharges, the Health department said in its bulletin.
Total number of active cases in the state stood at 5,93,078.
While the positivity rate for the day stood at 27.64 per cent, case fatality rate (CFR) was at 0.97 per cent.
Among 344 deaths reported on Thursday, 161 are from Bengaluru Urban, Mysuru (15), Ballari and Uttara Kannada (14), Bengaluru Rural (13), Madya and Tumakuru (11), Hassan and Shivamogga (10), followed by others.
Ballari recorded 1,865 cases, Tumakuru 1,798, Myauru 1,260, Mandya 1,153, Bengaluru Rural 1,079, followed by others.
Bengaluru Urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 10,14,996, followed by Mysuru 1,05,487 and Tumakuru 74,371.
Among discharges too, Bengaluru Urban tops the list with 6,46,305, followed by Mysuru 88,091 and Tumakuru 49,692.
A total of over 2,75,21,028 samples have been tested so far, of which 1,27,668 were tested on Thursday alone.
To view today's health bulletin: CLICK HERE
