M&M working on various options of mitigation after SC verdict

Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is working on "various options" to ensure sales of its flagship products do not suffer in the long-term following Supreme Court's recent ban on registration of diesel SUVs and cars above 2,000cc in the entire NCR till March 31.
"We are looking at various options that we can have and I am sure our teams will come out with an option which is in line with the SC direction that would be given and we will be able to sell our vehicles back in NCR area," M&M executive president Pawan Goenka told reporters at its manufacturing plant here.

The Supreme Court last month banned the registration of diesel SUVs and cars above 2,000cc in the entire National Capital Region till March 31, following heightened concerns over the pollution levels in the region.
Along with multinationals like Mercedes Benz, Audi etc, M&M has been impacted by the ban as its top selling SUV offerings like Bolero, XUV5OO and Scorpio have displacement of over 2,000 CC.
According to reports, the NCR region accounts for two per cent of the company's overall sales.
M&M today launched its compact SUV, KUV1OO, which runs on an internally developed 1,198 cc petrol or diesel engine and Goenka said work on engines of other sizes is on.

"Now we are working on 2.2 litre petrol engine both in Scorpio and XUV500 and we will be announcing that soon. Of course, doing the engine into a vehicle takes a long time even if an engine is available," he said.

Goenka recalled how working on the KUV1OO, its team had a
tough time convincing the management of the need to develop a petrol engine internally rather than buying the technology off the market.
"They worked so hard to convince that in the long run, it is going to be our weapon and that our own petrol engine will stand out," he said adding that it took six months to get convinced before a decision to develop the engine was taken.

Meanwhile, on the transition to cleaner BS-VI regime, Goenka exuded confidence that company's engineers will deliver in the event of regulatory mandate requiring a quicker migration.