CAFE III norms relaxation for small cars will compromise safety: Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles MD

New Delhi, Nov 14 (PTI) No leniency must be granted to small cars in the corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFE-III) norms on the basis of weight and affordability as it would compromise safety features while distracting from concrete action towards sustainable mobility, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd MD & CEO, Shailesh Chandra said on Friday.

In a Q2 earnings call, Chandra said as per the small cars definition recently reaffirmed under GST 2.0 based on length and engine capacity, the company is the second largest producer of small cars in India with over 85 per cent of sales coming from the same and it has "absolutely no concerns in meeting CAFE norms with even such high share of small cars".

"We see absolutely no justification for any special concession for this specific category of cars, or any category of class may be small or big," he asserted.

He was responding to a query on demand for lenient norms for small cars to meet the CAFE-III norms on the basis of weight and affordability.

Market leader Maruti Suzuki India has been vocal in proposing such a concession for small cars and its Chairman RC Bhargava had argued that the idea behind CAFE norms was to make big cars improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.

Auto industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), of which Chandra is the president, is a divided house on the issue. While the likes of Maruti Suzuki, Toyota Kirloskar and Honda Cars India want small cars to be granted benefits, others like Tata Motors, Mahindra, Hyundai and Kia are against it.

Chandra, who clarified that he was speaking in his capacity as MD of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd, further said,"There has been an effort to define an arbitrary category of small car, basis weight. We do not support any move to include weight in the definition of small cars. Such an arbitrary criteria would conflict with one of the country's most critical imperative that is safety." Stating that customer preference has, and continues to rapidly shift towards cars that are safe and equipped with features, he said at present no car weighing below 909 kg meets Bharat NCAP safety ratings citing industry estimates.

"So encouraging lighter vehicles would undermine the significant progress the industry has made in improving safety standards and protection," he asserted.

Also, he said,"Regulation should not be in dissonance with evolving consumer preferences. At some stage you'll have to ride with it. Market trends clearly indicate that in the sub-four meter space, consumers are shifting towards compact SUVs and this shift reflects evolving customer aspirations." Noting that car buyers are clearly preferring safer, feature rich vehicles at nearly the same price point, Chandra disagreed with the argument indicating that lightweight cars are also affordable cars.

"The reality is that today, there are cars in the vicinity of this proposed weight criteria of 909 kg that retail around even Rs 10 lakh. With minor weight reduction, maybe removal of safety reinforcements, they can be brought within the weight criteria, and that is mean giving concessions to relatively even expensive cars," he noted.

Chandra further said,"Diluting emission norms based on weight criteria compromises on vehicle safety and will distract from concrete action towards sustainable mobility." Therefore, he said,"We believe that the focus of conversation needs to be on encouraging the movement towards sustainable technologies, including EVs, flex fuel vehicles, rather than giving too much attention to this topic of small cars." The CAFE norms, started from 2017, sets limit on average fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of a manufacturer's overall fleet with an aim to push carmakers to improve their overall fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.

The CAFE II began in 2022 and the next phase CAFE III is likely to start from April 2027, for which new criteria are currently under discussion between various stakeholders with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) under the Power Ministry releasing draft regulation in September this year for feedback. PTI RKL ANU ANU