Mahindra To Produce BS VI Petrol Engines For Scorpio, XUV500 And Marazzo

Auto makers in India are gearing up for the Bharat Stage VI Emissions standards, set to be in effect starting April 1, 2020. Mahindra & Mahindra is no exception, having now confirmed a number of its offerings in India which will be getting a BS-VI compliant engine variant, soon.

During the recent announcement of the company¡¯s Q2 results, Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra, specifically named Scorpio, XUV500 and Marazzo to have a BS-VI compliant engine going forward. Interestingly, it was not the regular diesel engines that Goenka was mentioning for the makes. Instead, the company is poised to bring in a BS-VI compliant petrol engine for these predominantly diesel cars.

"Mahindra is preparing for both diesel and petrol all these cars (Scorpio, XUV500, Marazzo)," Goenka said. The decision relies on the fact that the company does not see a major difference in the sales ratio between the two fuel types. ¡°I don't see a major change between petrol and diesel sales. These vehicles would predominantly remain diesel for some time unless there is an artificial barrier that is put on buying of diesel," Goenka added.

Mahindra Scorpio (Representative Image: Mahindra & Mahindra)

The strategy is to make up for the lack of number of offerings in the company¡¯s portfolio, post BS-VI standards. As confirmed earlier by the company in a report, several of its present products will be discontinued post BS-VI emission standards. Essentially, those selling less than 1000 units, like the Verito, Nuvosport and Xylo, will be dropped from the portfolio.

In order to match up the number of vehicles on sale by Mahindra & Mahindra, the petrol variants of the above mentioned vehicles will make sense. An earlier report by ET confirms that the Indian auto giant has invested Rs 1,000 crore in the production of these BS-VI compliant engines. These include the upgradation of eight diesel and four petrol engines across 50 plus products, all within the next 12 months (since June, 2019).

Mahindra & Mahindra is not the only one working towards such BS-VI compliant engines, as auto makers have already started lining up their vehicles complying to the standards. Maruti Suzuki recently announced a hybrid version of its premium hatchback - Baleno, as the first BS-VI compliant vehicle in its segment. Among two-wheelers, Hero Splendor iSmart FI was recently launched as the country¡¯s first BS-VI compliant motorcycle.

Post April 1, 2020, all vehicles sold in the country will have to comply with the new standards. The transition will see the end of several vehicle models, while many others will be presented in the market with entirely new engines. But what is the reason behind this and how does BS-VI help the country¡¯s automobile landscape? Click here to find out.