The diesel car ban in Delhi is going to punch a hole in the pocket of most car manufacturers. Toyota Kirloskar is thinking about ways to get around the ban on diesel in the NCR and looking at options to get the petrol versions of the Innova and the Fortuner. Toyota has been hardest hit by the latest missive from the apex court that ruled that cars powered by diesel engines beyond 2000cc will not be registered in the NPR region.
Innova and Fortuner are the flagships of Toyota in India and features diesel engines more than 2000cc. Toyota is, however, toying with the idea of introducing a smaller petrol powered Innova if there is a demand for it in the NCR. Innova is also planning to bring forth petrol driven Fortuner in the NCR. Toyota is already selling the 4.0 litre V8 petrol driven Fortuner in the Middle East and Gulf Markets and it could be thinking of introducing it in India also.
M&M is the worst hit by the latest diesel ban since most of its vehicles have diesel engine above the 20000cc limit. Tata Motors have been also hit by the latest ban.
The Apex court had ruled that there will be no registration of any new diesel cars over 2000cc.
TS Jaishankar, deputy managing director-commercial at Toyota Kirloskar Motor said that Innova started off with a petrol version but was stopped because there was more demand for diesel-driven vehicles. It seems that Toyota will have to recall them back.
Innova and Fortuner accounted for more than 55% of all the sales made by Toyota in the Indian market between April and November 2015. Toyota sold some 91,588 vehicles and the above two brands accounted for 50,771 units. The National capital accounts for 14% of total sales of Toyota Motors.
