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The Rediff Business Special/Veeresh Malik

Maruti's new models likely to be Euro-II-fit

Row over the Euro norms for cars

The operative part of the Supreme Court order

'No comments please, the case is sub-judice'

Years ago, at a private gathering, I met a person who was then a high court judge and is now a Supreme Court judge. I asked him why the media never criticised legal matters? "You can criticise and disagree with a legal judgment if your submission is based on facts, and you can not be held liable for contempt of court. But if you dare imply anything towards the motives behind the judgment, then you are in serious contempt."

With that advice in mind, let me present a dispassionate look at the imbroglio.

Are our motor vehicle manufacturers really poisoning our breathing space? The four main reasons for bad emissions from automobiles are: engine technology, fuel quality, maintenance and traffic management. The automobile industry feels it is being unfairly picked on. But is that all there is to it?

Maruti exports almost 25,000 cars every year, mostly to Euro-II compliant countries, and to countries with even stricter environmental norms like Australia and New Zealand.

Their Suzuki Swift 1.0, sibling to the Maruti Zen, is acknowledged in Europe as one of the best five cars on long-term environmental scoreboards. MUL, which has a 80 per cent market share in India, did not introduce Euro-II compliant cars in India, and this fact was apparently not lost upon the Supreme Court.

Sources in the know said MUL has various new models in the pipeline, like the Baleno, the Wagon-R, the Jimny and the 660cc unnamed small car, all of which will easily meet Euro-II norms. The problem seems to be one of not being able to change schedules to advance the dates.

Auto industry says it's clean, fuel in India is not

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