Can Maruti Suzuki live up to its promise of bringing out pure CNG models in India?
Maruti Suzuki is planning to shift its focus to producing vehicles running on compressed natural gas (CNG) and is thus looking to increase the number of CNG vehicles in its lineup. Given the manufacturer’s decision to discontinue its entire diesel range, this will certainly take a hit once the BS6 emission norms become mandatory.
The manufacturer that currently offers various bi-fuel petrol-CNG vehicles in the country is also thinking of developing pure-CNG models in the distant future. Bi-fuel CNG models use the same spark-ignition system like a regular petrol unit but are re-calibrated to run on either of the fuels at any given time.
However a weak network of CNG filling stations in the country means that pure-CNG vehicles cannot make it to production anytime soon. Petroleum Minister, Dharmendra Prasad has confirmed the government’s plans to have 10,000 CNG stations in the next 5 years.
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd Senior Executive Director, CV Raman believes that the government’s inclination towards cleaner vehicles will pave the way for pure-CNG vehicles, but since proper refilling infrastructure is only available in metro cities, it is still a thing of the future.
Raman said in a statement, “the (network of) CNG stations are still growing. So customer anxiety is still there and so a buyer would prefer a bi-fuel car. Ultimately, the people using CNG are using it also for the economics and it does make a lot of difference in terms of running costs. It has the lowest running costs. So if they have that, they should also have the peace of mind to, when they go out of Delhi or something like that, they are still able to run the vehicle.”
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