CAFE-3 pitches big relief for small cars

Lower fleet-wise emissions for small cars in latest BEE draft

- Manas Pimpalkhare & Ayaan Kartik

Makers of small cars won relief of sorts on Thursday, with the draft rules on fleet-wide emissions carving out a niche for them with a lighter burden.

Cars shorter than four meters, weighing less than 909 kg and powered by sub-1200 cc engines will get an advantage of 3 grams while calculating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for so-called Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE 3) rules, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) said. This marks a victory for Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, which had lobbied for its small cars such as the Alto and the Wagon-R. Though the draft rules do not provide the emissions exemption that Maruti Suzuki had demanded, it still provides an edge for makers of small automobiles.

The benefit is limited to a maximum of 9g per kilometer over the five-year period of the new norms.

CAFE norms require carmakers to improve fuel efficiency across their fleets, not just individual models. By setting limits on a firm's sales-weighted average CO emissions, the norms push manufacturers to produce and sell more fuel-efficient cars, including electric and hybrid vehicles, to balance out the emissions from larger, less-efficient models.

Maruti Suzuki had lobbied for its bread-and-butter small cars, in a market increasingly dominated by SUVs and premium sedans from its rivals like Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd and Hyundai Motor India Ltd.