Development of fuel efficient cars to remain critical: Maruti Suzuki

 Maruti Suzuki will keep developing and launching cars with great fuel efficiency as it remains a critical factor for customers while making a purchase decision, a senior official said

Maruti Suzuki India will keep developing and launching cars with great fuel efficiency as it remains a critical factor for customers while making a purchase decision, a senior company official said on Tuesday.

The country's largest carmaker -- which has launched a campaign 'Kam Se Kaam Banega' to celebrate three decades of leadership in offering the country's most fuel-efficient cars -- noted that efficiency goals will be achieved without compromising on the performance of the vehicles.

"Our internal studies have shown that fuel efficiency has been high in buying criteria even when fuel prices were down. Now with so much increase in fuel prices, it has become an even more important factor," MSI Senior Executive Director (Sales and Marketing) Shashank Srivastava told PTI.

He noted that the fuel prices were not expected to come down any time soon and thus customers would look for a product with better fuel efficiency.

Srivastava pointed out that developing fuel-efficient cars was also important for the companies to achieve the stringent norms, which come into play in the country from next year.

"The second phase of CAFE norms is due in 2022 and the third phase in 2027. So, obviously, every OEM would have to improve the fuel efficiency of their cars. We are currently quite comfortable in this regard," Srivastava stated.

Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) norms are embedded in BS-VI emission regulations and are part of the government's efforts to reduce vehicular carbon footprint.

In Phase 1 (2017-2022), CAFE norms require average corporate CO2 emissions to be less than 130 gm/km. In Phase II (2022 onwards), emissions need to be further reduced to less than 113 gm/km.