India’s biggest sports utility vehicle maker said the Delhi High Court’s order banning the sale of diesel vehicles with engine sizes over 2 liter could hit its sales by about 2%.
“Honourable Court’s order today affects the sales of some of the Company’s products in NCR. The vehicles affected represent about 2% of the Company’s total monthly sales. The Company is in the process of evaluating various options to work within the framework provided by the Honourable Supreme Court,” Mahindra & Mahindra said.
M&M makes models like Scorpio, Bolero, Quanto, Thar, XUV 500 etc.. Unfortunately for M&M, most of its diesel models have engine sizes above 2 liter (2,000 cc).
The automaker said it respects the spirit behind the ruling, but hopes that the Courts would look at empirical data before deciding whether to continue with the diesel vehicle ban in the capital.
“The Company would hope that at the end of the interim period of 31st March, 2016, the judiciary and the regulators would look at the impact of these measures and take a holistic view on improving the air quality of Delhi, taking into account the overall impact of each action.”
The High Court banned the registration of big and medium sized diesel vehicles in the National Capital Region upto 31st March, 2016 after air pollution stayed at ‘hazardous’ level for several days.
“There is a serious concern on air quality in Delhi and an immediate need to protect the environment. Urgent action is required in this regard… The Company respects the order of the Honourable Supreme Court and does hope that these actions help to clean Delhi air.”