Auto industry must act to meet emission deadline: Vikram Kirloskar

Says it would require huge investment to bring in regulatory standards expected to be mandatory from 2020

Automobile companies must come up with detailed schedule and collaborate in order to meet the BS VI emission regulatory requirements, which the government is planning to introduce from 2020, said Vikram S Kirloskar, vice chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd.

Commenting on the regulatory challenges faced by the industry in India, in a conference on automotive R&D trends, organised by the Technology Development and Promotion Centre (TDPC), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said that it would require huge investment from the companies to bring in the regulatory standards expected to be mandatory from 2020 and this would mean increase in price of the vehicles.

New levels of cooperation between the supplier, the OEM, and the regulatory agencies has to come in."Along with this, the prices of vehicles will go up. It means the customer demands are going to be much more. Expectations will go up. A BS 6 would typically cost Rs 40,000 to Rs 1 lakh more per vehicle. The question from the customer would be what am I going to get from this," he said.

He said that the country is barely implementing the BS 4 standards, which is equivalent to Euro 4 emission standards in a few cities and it is expected to country-wide by April, 2017, when the fuel with the standard is made available. But within three years from then, in 2020, the country will have to reach Euro 6, in all vehicles including two wheelers, which is twice the magnitude of the levels of emission control currently working under Euro 4.

He added that the safety regulations, including the crash testing and regulations and pedestrian safety would require a whole new level of engineering in the front and back of the car, which makes the car longer. Considering the number of models these companies has to alter according to the regulation, it is a huge task.

One of the areas where the companies will be forced to collaborate in BS 6 is the component suppliers. While the company may be manufacturing Euro 6 complied vehicles for exports,it cannot be picked up for the Indian market. There are changes quite immensely on the driving cycle and the fuel and it needs research, design and testing to be conducted almost at the same time. In technology, a little more cross licensing has to happen, he said.

He said that while the government is supposed to spend around Rs 60,000 crore on the oil suppliers to have BS 6 fuel by end of 2019, it is not known what would be the octane level and the density. Automobile companies also has to assess the situation and create an action plan with proper schedule, which has to be adhered to meet the deadline.

Kirloskar also added that if the safety norms including the crash safety measures nd pedestrian crash safety with Euro 6 fuel would make it difficult to manufacture a sub four meter format of car.

Along with this, the new tight regulations on overall fuel consumption or carbon emission as a corporate group, which produces car, adds to the challenges faced by the automobile manufacturers in the country, he added.