Renault has hinted at the fact that it will stop selling diesel cars in India next year, once the BS6 emissions kick in. The French car maker will instead focus on selling petrol cars and will also look at manufacturing EVs in India in a few years.
- Duster, Captur and Lodgy are currently offered with diesel engines.
- Lodgy is Renault’s diesel-only model in India.
- Triber and HBC sub-4m SUV will be petrol-only models.
- Ford, Honda and Hyundai will continue to sell diesel cars once BS6 kicks in.
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Currently, Renault offers three cars with a diesel engine: the Duster, Captur and Lodgy. Out of these three, the Lodgy is a diesel-only model. Thus post April 2020, we could see the Duster and Captur being sold in a petrol-only avatar and the Lodgy being discontinued. Renault’s recently unveiled Triber will be a petrol-only model and the trend is expected to continue with the HBC sub-4 metre SUV which will go on sale next year. Renault’s entry-level model, the Kwid, is also offered with petrol engines only.
Renault’s future plans was shared by its global head Thierry Bollore who said that diesel’s market share is decreasing at a gradual pace globally and thus Renault wants to invest in technology that will drive the vehicles of the future. The move is in line with Maruti Suzuki’s plan to stop selling all diesel cars in India once the BS6 norms come into play.
Renault is not the first carmaker to start this trend and is merely hopping onto the bandwagon that was kicked off by Maruti. Mahindra and Tata will also discontinue the use of diesel engines, albeit in their smaller vehicles only. Carmakers like Hyundai, Honda and Ford have gone the other way and reiterated the fact that they will continue selling diesel cars even when the BS6 deadline comes into play.
(Source: www.cardekho.com)
