RDE price hike, Bharat Stage 6 phase II, cars discontinued

Along with a price hike, RDE norms also saw cars selling in low volumes being discontinued.

While the Innova Crysta petrol has been discontinued, Toyota has reintroduced the Crysta diesel.

Bharat Stage 6 Phase II (BS6.2), also known as Real Driving Emissions (RDE) norms were implemented on April 1, 2023 and are responsible for price hike in vehicles. These new norms require manufacturers to add hardware on cars, SUVs to meet the more stringent emissions norms.

What are Real Driving Emissions norms?

Under the RDE norms, all cars need to achieve emissions targets in real-world conditions that correlate with tests conducted in the laboratory conditions under the Modified Indian Drive Cycle (MIDC). In the laboratory, cars follow a fixed set of parameters – speed, time and distance – whereas in the real world, cars are subjected to bursts of acceleration, frequent changes in speed as well as everyday traffic; hence, an RDE test.

These new norms are needed to reduce the gap in emissions between laboratory tests and those produced in the real world. RDE norms were primarily introduced to reduce the impact of smart software on lab-based emissions tests, such as the one responsible for Dieselgate emissions scandal.

Why have car prices increased?

Upgrading cars to meet the new emissions norms is no small feat. While most petrol-powered cars were able to do this primarily with a small software update, diesel-powered cars had to add new hardware.

For the BS6 norms introduced in 2020, cars could manage with the Lean NOx Trap (LNT) system as it was simpler and more cost effective. However, some shifted to the Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system. Now, most diesel-powered cars would require to adopt the SCR system to meet the more stringent emissions norms.

Shifting to SCR systems requires cars to be fitted with new hardware such as an additional tank for the diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) – commonly known as AdBlue – as well injectors for DEF and an inlet to fill the DEF tank. While many manufacturers integrated the DEF filler in the same cavity as the fuel filler, cars like the Mahindra Scorpio Classic have two fuel filler lids on its rear fender – one on each side – where the left one is used to fill diesel and the right for DEF. In addition to the added parts, it also becomes difficult for manufacturers to package all the new hardware.

In January 2023, many manufacturers announced a price hike for their respective portfolio mentioning rising input and logistics cost. However, it is believed that the priced were also hiked due to the new emissions norms.

For example, after the price hike in November 2022, Tata Nexon retailed between Rs 7.70 lakh-14.18 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai). In February, Tata again hiked the prices for the petrol and diesel-powered Nexon by Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000, respectively. With this, the Nexon now retails for Rs 7.80 lakh-14.30 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai).

Cars discontinued due to BS6 Phase 2 emissions norms

These new emissions norms majorly saw a few diesel-powered cars getting discontinued as it became expensive to adapt them. Additionally, it also saw vehicles selling in low volumes gettting discontinued altogether.

Honda discontinued three models – Jazz, WR-V and the fourth-generation City. It also discontinued its diesel engine entirely, which means the fifth-gen City and Amaze are now available petrol only.

Hyundai has adopted a slightly different path. While it didn’t discontinue any model, it has made major changes to the powertrain line-up of many models. The i20 and Verna are now petrol-only models, and it will sell its diesel engine only with SUVs.

Here are all the cars that were discontinued:

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What do you think about the new emissions norms? Let us know in the comments.