Weight-based CAFE relief to hurt safer car push: Shailesh Chandra

Some automakers are seeking to create an “arbitrary” weight-based category of small cars to get relief under the upcoming norms on corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFE), but such a criterion will conflict with the auto industry's progress and the government's policies that incentivise the production of safer vehicles, said Shailesh Chandra, managing director and chief executive officer, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, on Friday.

- DEEPAK PATEL

This is the first time that Chandra has spoken against the demand for weight-based exemption for small cars, which has divided the auto industry since the beginning of this year.

The CAFE framework sets fleet-wide emission targets on carbon dioxide for automakers in gm/km, with penalties for non-compliance from the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).

Earlier this year, Maruti Suzuki sought a weight-based exemption for small cars. On September 25, the BEE released the draft CAFE-3 and CAFE-4 norms, which, for the first time, introduced weight-based exemption.

According to this draft, petrol cars of less than 909 kg, with an engine below 1,200 cc, and having a length of less than 4 metres will get a fuel-emission relaxation of an additional 3 gm/km.