After Rs 600 cr spend, Mahindra forced to rethink 21 vehicle Furio platform

Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is rethinking launching six products under Furio platform in the Bharat Stage IV regime after the Supreme Court banned the sale of vehicles under the emission norms after April 1, 2020. The company is considering shifting at least a couple of products to the BS-VI regime.

Sources said other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), too, are bringing changes to their strategies for a smooth transition to the BS-VI regime. Bharat Stage norms are emission standards imposed on automobile manufacturers that specify the maximum permissible limits for pollutants in the exhaust fumes of automobiles.

Furio, a platform of 21 products, was introduced by M&M in July this year for its new range of Intermediate Commercial Vehicles (ICVs). Designed by its Italy-based subsidiary Pininfarina, Furio has been developed with an investment of Rs 600 crore.

The company had then announced its plans to launch six trucks in the current fiscal while the rest will come straight in the BS-VI era. Vinod Sahay, chief executive officer, Mahindra Truck and Bus and Construction Equipment Divisions, M&M said, “We are right now debating.

We will not launch all the six products under BS IV, as the Supreme Court has decoded everything.” “Out of six, we would have to postpone a couple of products because the window of BS6 has reduced,” Sahay said on the sidelines of the launch of the Blazo X, an upgrade of its Blazo range of heavy commercial vehicle trucks, on Friday.

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Sahay said if the BS-VI deadline had been four years away, then M&M would have launched all 21 products under BS IV itself as it would have had all the time to recover its investment.

He said it made absolutely no sense to launch any product in August 2019 because after four months its production will need to be stopped. The Indian auto industry is slated to jump to BS VI, skipping BS V, and a deadline of April 1, 2020, has been set.