Maruti Suzuki plans to stop producing BS-IV models

New Delhi: Automobile major Maruti Suzukis Chairman R.C. Bhargava on Wednesday said it plans to stop manufacturing Bharat Stage (BS)-IV compliant cars by the end of 2019.
The company’s decision is in line with the Supreme Court’s order stating that no BS-IV vehicle should be sold in the country from April 1, 2020 as the BS-VI emission norms would come into force.
“Broadly, the production of BS-VI will largely come to a stop by December 2019,” Bhargava said here during a media interaction.
“We may still give you some BS-IV vehicles after December 2019 if there is a customer demand for those vehicles… and if we are sure that we can actually register the vehicle before March 31.”
Bhargava also observed that the sale of BS-VI compliant diesel vehicles may take a hit as their prices would be significantly higher than BS-VI petrol models. “In BS-VI, diesel car price will go up substantially and we will have to consider the customer preference to a diesel car at the new price of a BS-VI diesel car, which will be roughly Rs 2.5 lakh more than a petrol car of BS-VI,” he said. (IANS)