Govt clears policy to permit quadricycles for commercial use in India

Electric version will also be allowed, says Nitin Gadkari

The ministry of road transport and highways has finally cleared a policy to permit quadricycles, a new category of vehicles, for commercial use in the country. A notification with details is expected soon.

Nitin Gadkari, the minister, told Business Standard, “We are also now working on another policy to permit electric quadricycles.” 

The automobile industry has fought among itself on the question of whether to permit quadricycles — these have four wheels like a passenger car. 

On one side was Bajaj Auto, the first company to showcase the product in India (they named it the ‘Qute’). It has been pushing to permit the new vehicle category. On the other side were Tata Motors, TVS and even Maruti Suzuki in the initial stages -- they opposed the move. Their contention was that while these four-wheel vehicles were cheaper, they bypassed both the emission and safety norms which are strictly followed for passenger cars and other regular four-wheel drives. 

Bajaj Auto said the critics were assuming a vehicle should be defined by the number of wheels it has – if it is four, it has to be a car. Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto, argued a quadri is not only smaller than a three-wheeler in length but its engine is half the size and weighs much less. Yet, it was being considered unsafe only because it had an extra wheel, which in any case provided more stability.

The issue was also fought in the courts. It was eventually decided at the Supreme Court, which left the matter to the ministry.  

On the clearance, Rajiv Bajaj said: “I am delighted to understand that any day now we can expect approval for the Bajaj Qute. I am sure this will hit a sweet spot in intra-city mobility between three-wheelers and cars. This has happened after a long wait of six years, during which Bajaj has been able to introduce the Qute in many of its global markets but, alas, not in India.”

Bajaj already has a factory making this and plans to export 10,000 quadricycles this year, to around 20 countries. 

Mahindra & Mahindra also showcased their models of the quadricycle in the latest Auto Expo, near Delhi. Tata Motors declined to comment on the issue.