SC decision on BS-III vehicles to hit industry: Tata Motors

Tata Motors today termed the Supreme Court ban on BS-III vehicles from April 1 as "unexpected and unprecedented" saying the order will have a material impact on the entire automotive industry.
"The decision by Hon'ble Supreme Court to ban sale of all BSIII vehicles from April 1, 2017 is an unexpected and unprecedented move that will have a material impact on the entire automotive industry, OEM's and dealer network," Tata Motors said in a statement.
The industry had planned the current transition into BSIV in line with the accepted past practice of stopping production of earlier emission standard vehicles effective from the transition date, it said.

"In the context of this previous experience, this decision by the apex court is a 'penalty' to the entire automotive industry," the commercial vehicle major said.
Tata Motors is assessing the impact of the order on its BSIII inventory, it added.
The company has always been strongly committed to bringing stringent emission control regulations and has made significant investments in technology, product development and operations, it said.

"We have been producing BSIV compliant vehicles across our entire product range of passenger and commercial vehicles and are fully BSIV ready with effect from April 1, 2017," it added.
The Supreme Court today banned sale and registration of vehicles with the older BS-III emission norms from April 1, in a blow to auto firms saddled with a stock of over 8 lakh such vehicles valued up to an estimated Rs 20,000 crore.

According to industry estimates, total value of vehicles impacted by ban is between Rs 15,000 crore and Rs 20,000 crore. Around 6.71 lakh two-wheelers, 97,000 commercial vehicles and over 40,000 three wheelers are affected by the ban.