These popular Indian cars could discontinue soon!
The automotive industry in India has seen quite many changes in the past few years. The implementation of BS6 brought in many changes to the market with quite a few prominent players shunning diesel engines and focusing on petrol engines only. Moreover, the focus from performance and fun completely changed to fuel-efficiency and emission levels. Moreover, the past few years have been important for enhancements in safety standards as well. Most carmakers have started paying keen attention to safety since the modern buyer demands for it. Even the government is pushing forward to make cars safer and is ultimately aiming to reduce fatalities as well overall accidents. But this could lead to discontinuation of some popular Indian cars. One of these could probably be a car that you either own or might have owned once. What is the complete case and why could they discontinue? Everything in this article.
What is the complete case?
It has already been established that the mandatory six airbag rule will soon come into effect from October this year. This rule will apply to every motor vehicle which has a maximum passenger carrying capacity of 8. To be prepared for this, many carmakers have already started offering six airbags so that they don’t have to adjust costs later on. However, once the rule implements, even the base variants would have to be offered with a minimum of six airbags. Although this is a great step towards safety, this will considerably increase the cost of cars. Why, you ask? The additional airbags do cost quite an amount. According to R.C. Bhargava, the additional costs of extra airbags could fall somewhere between Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000. Moreover, many cars would require re-engineering to incorporate the whole six airbag system which would further increase costs.
Now, which popular Indian cars could discontinue?
Maruti has been openly resisting the new rule stating that the increase in initial costs would increase the costs of its budget cars. This would hurt their main USP, which is ‘budget’. Moreover, with the increase in costs, it would become difficult for most two-wheeler owners to upgrade to a four-wheeler. Maruti’s concern is well-found since the majority of their sales come from these budget cars. However, Maruti has openly stated that the brand would be open to discontinue its budget cars if it stops making a viable case for them. If we look at Maruti’s list of budget cars, it includes options like the very-popular Alto, the WagonR, the Celerio, the S-Presso, the Swift, etc. The major chunk of sales is held by Alto, Swift and WagonR. Now, if Maruti does decide to discontinue these cars, it would really become difficult for many first-time car buyers to find a budget option, especially from a reliable brand like Maruti.
In another recent media report, it is being said that Hyundai is planning to move away from small cars and focus more on other profit-making segments. Hyundai recently discontinued the Santro (except for the CNG variants). Could its other hatchback like the Grand i10 Nios discontinue? Only time with tell. What is your take on the mandatory six airbag rule? Do you find it to be a good step or do you think it has its own negatives? Let us know in the comments.
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