Pawan Goenka, MD, Mahindra & Mahindra has stated that a big price hike could come thanks to the upgrades required to meet India’s latest crash test and emission norms.
Carmakers will have to upgrade older models to meet safety norms and this could affect prices. The more stringent crash test norms came into effect from October 1, 2017, for new cars and will apply to all cars on sale in the country from October 1, 2019.
Other additional expenses include upgrading to BS-VI emission norms that will come into force from April 2020. The cost of migrating to BS-VI emission norms will be higher for diesel cars as opposed to petrol vehicles. According to some estimates, diesel car prices could even rise to the tune of Rs 1 lakh by 2020.
"When it comes to BS-VI norms, since there is a lot of investment required, there will be a corresponding price increase that might happen along with a price increase due to the safety norms. Hence, we are taking a decision on which models we may decide to not continue beyond March 2020," Goenka said. "Nearly all our models, with the exception of one or two low-volume products, will meet the new safety norms," he added.
