[GTO]

Statements by some. Note the varying tone:

Ashok Leyland - Damage Control. Also to protect its share price.

Contrary to the various reports in the media about Ashok Leyland having to take a huge write-off of BS III inventories, the Company clarifies that in-fact the impact will be minimal.

Ashok Leyland has been making BS IV vehicles since 2010 and has sufficient capability and capacity to make BS IV vehicles. However, since BS IV Commercial Vehicles cannot run properly on BS III fuel – and such fuel is not available nationwide - our customers continued to buy BS III vehicles.

Given the current demand, majority of the vehicles in the pipeline have already been sold. Some more will be sold in the next couple of days where we have customer orders. Of the little inventory that we expect to remain beyond this, we will export them to other markets where we have significant presence and still operate on BS III norms. Finally, for any other vehicles still leftover, the Company confirms that it will be able to easily upgrade them to BS IV at minimal cost.

SIAM (who only talk to themselves...no one in the government listens to them)

Reacting to the Supreme Court Orders banning the sale of BS III stocks of vehicles, Mr. Vinod K. Dasari, President, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said that industry would abide with the Orders passed by the Hon’ble Court.

Auto Industry has been ready with BS4 manufacturing since 2010. However, the sale of BS4 vehicles was not possible, nationwide, due to lack of BS4 fuel. Auto Industry is law abiding and is in full compliance with the emission norms set by Government that stipulates date of “Manufacturing”. The historical implementation of emission norms also reinforces the current law that stipulates “manufacturing”. Auto Industry has had the capability of making BS4 vehicles since 2010, but lack of proper BS4 fuel prevented it from selling such vehicles, nationwide. Running a BS4 vehicle with BS3 fuel can cause severe problems to some vehicles.

While no one pushed for BS4 fuel availability for 7 years to change over faster, this sudden decision – just a few days before the changeover - is rather unfortunate as it causes undue stress on the entire industry, and causes loss of jobs. Auto Industry, anywhere in the world, requires a stable and predictable policy which allows for long term planning and investments, Mr. Dasari added.

As a proactive measure to reduce pollution, the auto industry has been asking for years for banning of older vehicles. This would have a substantial impact on the air quality. Further, the industry worked with the government for the fastest adoption of BS6 in the World (in 3 years), skipping BS5.

Tata Motors

The decision by Hon’ble Supreme Court to ban sale of all BSIII vehicles from April 1, 2017 is an unexpected and unprecedented move that will have a material impact on the entire automotive industry, OEM’s and dealer network.

The industry had planned the current transition into BSIV in line with the accepted past practice of stopping production of earlier emission standard vehicles effective from the transition date. In the context of this previous experience, this decision by the apex court is a ‘penalty’ to the entire automotive industry.

Tata Motors as a leading player in the automotive industry has always been strongly committed to bringing stringent emission control regulations and has made significant investments in technology, product development and operations. We have been producing BSIV compliant vehicles across our entire product range of passenger and commercial vehicles and are fully BSIV ready with effect from April 1, 2017.

Tata Motors is assessing the impact of the Order on the BSIII inventory that are lying unsold on April 1st, at both company and dealerships.

Bharat Benz

Today’s decision of the Supreme Court reassures us in our belief that industry interests must go together with the interests of the society at large. The BS-IV standard will bring much needed improvements in terms of air quality, to the benefit of the people and the environment. ”

At BharatBenz, we had made the strategic decision last year to only focus on BS-IV vehicles, and we have worked relentlessly for more than a year to achieve this. Consequently, we gradually phased out BS-III in our business system and have made the switch to produce only BS-IV vehicles in March, exactly according to plan.

We are now counting down for next week’s launch of our all-new range of BharatBenz trucks, featuring our clean and fuel-efficient BS-IV technology package. We could not have chosen a better timing to introduce these fresh new products.

[deetjohn]

Kudos to the ruling, that's how it should be.

A table from the Hindu today attached below. Look at the sheer number of BS3 vehicles manufactured by the different brands since Jan, shows how much people care about rulings in the industry. The deadline was no secret!

And I don't think the timeline should be extended. Then the people who actually play by the rules are affected. That's the big bane of our society!

There is a general feeling that if a critical majority is not following the guidelines, it's okay to bend the rule and the defaulters can get away with it. There is simply no incentive for someone who took the pain to obey in the first place and in the future they will also join the other side.

This should be made a lesson in sticking to the rules and not a precident for relaxing timelines.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by GTO

Statements by some. Note the varying tone:

Look what I found

Ashok Leyland: For any other vehicles still leftover, the company confirms that it will be able to easily upgrade them to BS-4 at minimal cost

Tata Motors: there is no technology available to upgrade a BS-3 vehicle into a BS-IV one

http://www.firstpost.com/business/su...r-3359138.html

[sgiitk]

I think knowing the deadlines it was our 'chalta hai' attitude of the auto industry which has led to this problem. As for industry which led the fight to delay the introduction of BS-IV in commercial vehicles. Also, I think most two wheelers will need to FI in place the Carbs to meet the BS-IV norms. I have no sympathy for the industry here.

I do not like Ms Sunita Narain, who lets her emotions get ahead of her, but here I support her stand.

[aviraj]

Does this mean BS-III or older vehicles for which registration has expired cannot be re-registered going forward? What happens to such vehicles?

[GrammarNazi]

Any clue which are the BS 3 vehicle models that are being sold ?

[sandeepmdas]

Any shareholder who've seen a fully-laden AL truck crawling on and the performance of a similarly-loaded BharatBenz on the same stretch would not think twice before selling all his Ashok Leyland stock off. I didn't because I never owned any.

Ref: "We will export our BSIII s%$^ to Africa and the ME", how would they export RHD vehicles to the said markets?

[asr245]

I live in NCR (though trying to leave because of pollution). So as far as I am concerned, great ruling!

Manufacturers were trying to bend the rules backwards, playing with interpretation, so basically they had it coming. Next time, they will not try such stunts.

[PRADEEP KUMAR]

Originally Posted by aviraj

Does this mean BS-III or older vehicles for which registration has expired cannot be re-registered going forward? What happens to such vehicles?

I am exactly in this situation.
Have bought a Mahindra Thar from Andhra .I reside in chennai.
My process of re-registration was on and out of the blue this ruling has stopped the process.
Am stuck now.

[MDED]

Originally Posted by deepfreak15

Say I book a BSIII vehicle tomorrow, what if the registration gets pushed out to the 1st of April? The dealer would take the full amount citing they need it to complete the registration. So what would happen if I paid in full and the registration is not completed by 31st March?

Only invoicing has to be done by March 31, 2017 and the registration can take place after the deadline. SC verdict has barred RTOs from registering BS III vehicles from April 01, 2017 wherein the invoicing is also from April 01, 2017.

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by aviraj

Does this mean BS-III or older vehicles for which registration has expired cannot be re-registered going forward? What happens to such vehicles?

Right now no curbs on owning or reselling bs3 vehicles. But in 2018 (im not sure if its 2018/2020) when India jumps to BS6 then owning/buying/selling BS3 vehicles will be illegal

[ramzsys]

Did the Honorable Supreme Court just kill the fattest cash cow, the DI engine utility vehicles of M&M? Oh my.

[sad:)]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

Any clue which are the BS 3 vehicle models that are being sold ?

Other than some premium bike manufacturers, no one has come forward that they have surplus production and are trying to sell it away, with some discouts. If you try to search internet, it is only media which has posted that vehicle manufacturers will undergo loss due to this BSIII rule.

[Mohan Mathew A]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

Right now no curbs on owning or reselling bs3 vehicles. But in 2018 (im not sure if its 2018/2020) when India jumps to BS6 then owning/buying/selling BS3 vehicles will be illegal

i don't think owning/re-selling will be a problem otherwise vehicles as new as 3 years old (registered till tomorrow) will have to be thrashed.The NGT might ban in a few cities or some other such irrational decision might be taken but a blanket ban will not be possible

[BLACKBLADE]

The summary of salient points quoted from http://auto.ndtv.com/news/

The Supreme Court of India has banned the sale of any Bharat Stage III or BS III vehicles across India, with effect from April 1 2017. This is accordance with the government deadline to adopt the new emissions cycle pan-India. We have also told you how the Industry has reacted to this. Here’s everything you need to know about the ruling of the apex court:

1) The Supreme Court has directed the Indian automobile industry to stop the sale and registration of any Bharat Stage III vehicle from April 1 2017. This in effect puts an end to the controversy around the topic that has been raging since January this year.

2) India’s top court has asked the affected vehicle manufacturers to use the remaining days in March to try and sell any inventory of the said vehicles. Some of the manufacturers have said it may be impossible to do so, and will now seek to either recall and upgrade these vehicles or seek to export them to markets where existing emission norms would still make them viable.

3) The Court has said ‘the health of the people is far, far more important than the commercial interests of the manufacturers or the loss that they are likely to suffer.’ The move has been celebrated by environmentalists and the EPCA – which had even called for a meeting with the auto industry in October 2016 to assess the industry’s readiness to move to BS IV across India.

4) After the industry had petitioned the court to relax the deadline, on March 20 2017 it had asked auto players to submit details of the BS III inventory they held collectively. Numbers submitted by the SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) show that it stands at 8.24 lakh vehicles (0.96 lakh Commercial Vehicles, 6.71 lakh Two Wheelers, 0.40 lakh Three Wheelers and a mere 0.16 lakh Passenger Cars.)

5) While the top 13 cities in the county had moved to BS IV in 2010, the rest of India needed migrate to the new norms in phases – the last of which sees complete adoption by April this year.

6) The government notification issued in March 2014 had also stated that any ‘new models’ coming to market will need to be BS IV compliant if launched after April 1 2016. The automobile industry has delivered on that front, and we have seen the introduction of many new BS IV compliant car and bike models in 2016 as a result.The notification further stated that all exiting models must also transition to BS IV by April 1 2017 – the root of today’s ruling. Some players like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, and Bajaj had moved their entire portfolio (including existing models) to BS IV well before the second deadline.

7) Citing an inventory pile-up in its dealer and distributor pipeline, many others in the auto industry had asked for an extension of the deadline on sales of already manufactured BS III vehicles – while assuring that production of said vehicles would end by March 31 2017. The court refused to provide this caveat and has now asked them to honour the letter of the law and carry out a complete transition – which of course also means stopping the sale and registration of such cars, bikes, three wheelers and trucks.

8) The ban on BS III vehicles is on the manufacture and sale of new vehicles – and in no way affects vehicles you may have already purchased and are currently using. This also applies to vehicles that may be booked and invoiced, and not as yet delivered to actual individual buyers.

9) Car and bike owners are also free to sell their existing BS III vehicles in the second-hand market, and also buy a used BS III vehicle. The ban is only on brand new vehicles.

10) A pan-India transition to BSIV has also meant an upgrading of fuel quality from BS III to BS IV. Since the latter is now available across India, you need not worry about using BS IV fuel in older vehicles. This has been tested and proven already in the case of the 13 big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bengaluru that had moved to BS IV in 2010.

Point No. 8 and 9 are of particular interest to me and many fellow BHPians who are concerned about buying and selling of used BS III vehicles. There is nothing to worry about, as of now.

Also as per point no. 7, if Maruti, Hyundai and Bajaj could revamp their product portfolio to meet BS IV norms and other manufactures have not followed suit, means that they are relying on support of politicians. Waiting with hands crossed. Most probably I see an extension of the dead line.

Wondering why they kept producing BS III vehicles, knowing that they would eventually get to a point, where they could not sell them ?

Cheers ! Love and Live to Drive !!