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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Continuous rainfall in Dakshina Kannada poses threat to houses in low-lying areas
Incidents of walls collapsing, water logging in houses reported from across district
Mangaluru: Continuous rainfall in Dakshina Kannada including Mangaluru, is now posing threat to the low-lying areas with flooding if the rain continues for next few hours.
Incidents of wall of the houses and compound walls collapsing, have also been reported from several areas since Wednesday night.
Similarly, cracks were also spotted on the Maravur Bridge following which the Deputy Commissioner instructed the PWD Executive Engineering to visit the spot and inspect the bridge on Thursday morning.
Due to the drainage issues, several areas in Mangaluru including Kottara Chowki were experiencing water logging causing traffic jams and panic among the locals who fear flooding if the rains do not stop.
In several other areas, homes have also been inundated with rain water putting the houses on risk of damages. Residents in these areas were evacuated and were shifted to other localities temporarily.
The Deputy Commissioner also declared holidays to PU and Degree colleges due to rains on June 30. He also added that the decision on declaring holidays to schools and other colleges will be taken after assessing the situation in the district by Friday morning.
