This comes directly from a well-known Japanese carmaker that has been in India for more than 20yrs. Yes, Japanese auto giant Honda has finally decided to quit the diesel market in India following in the footsteps of its Korean and Indian counterparts Hyundai Motors and Maruti Suzuki. Know Honda will no longer produce diesel engines in India.
- Currently, Honda India has almost 4 vehicles in its India lineup being run on diesel engine
- These models include the Honda City, Jazz, recently facelifted Amaze, and the soon to receive a facelift, Honda WR-V
- As of now, HCIL manufactures the 1.5-litre diesel engine. However, certain reports also suggest that Honda might as well cease production and exports of its 1.6-litre diesel mill from March 2023.
- Although, the 1.5L diesel mill for India is set to be discontinued from February 2023.
- Some media reports also suggest that this decision has been taken just before the implementation of the revised Real Driving Emissions (RDE) norms.
- Another reason cited for the discontinuation is the upgradation costs to comply with RDE norms are considered to be not feasible.
- At present, India does export the 1.6-litre diesel mill to be used in the Honda CR-V sold in Thailand, the Philippines, and other countries.
- The upcoming RDE norms will lead OEMs to meet more stringent emission norms, Targeting those listed for the PM (particulate matter) and NOx (nitrogen oxide) in the BS6 guidelines.
- Stated everything in layman’s terms It will now be a mandated requirement for all OEMs to make changes in their already in-use machinery to score near optimal emission performance in order to stay in production.