M&M shifts gear to meet engine norms

With fears of a temporary ban on sales in Delhi of large diesel vehicles being extended to other cities, Mahindra & Mahindra, India's biggest maker of sports utility vehicles (SUV), is considering reducing the size of its engines.

According to a Supreme Court order passed on Wednesday, the registration of SUVs and other diesel cars with an engine capacity of 2,000cc or more is banned in Delhi and the National Capital Region till March 31.

The Mumbai-based company, which will bear the brunt of the order, has five vehicles with engines above 2,000cc, including the country's best selling utility vehicle, Bolero.

“We are working to see what we can do with the vehicles that are otherwise banned. We will examine redesign to come below the two-litre limit,” Pawan Goenka, executive director, M&M, told analysts on Wednesday.

Except for the recently launched TUV3OO, all other M&M utility vehicles like the Bolero, Scorpio, XUV5OO, Thar and Xylo have engines larger than 2,000cc.

The XUV5OO, M&M's most expensive product, for instance, has a mHawk, 2179cc diesel engine. For the company to retail this product in Delhi-NCR, M&M will have to bring down the capacity to 2,000cc or below.

“We are concerned about the inventory with dealers, which is in the order of Rs 100 crore. We do not have a solution for that yet. Dealers are unduly coming under pressure,” added Goenka.

Mahindra India