Maruti 800 Kicked Out of the Indian Cities

The Maruti 800, one of the small cars which made history in India, will be withdrawn from Calcutta and 12 other cities, starting in April. The reason is quite simple: Suzuki Motors of Japan, which has a 54.21 per cent stake in the Indian automaker, decided not to upgrade the car’s engine to Euro IV requirements.

As Euro IV emissions are required in all metros from April 1, Suzuki will have to stop selling the M-800. Some of the cities in which the car has been banned include Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Surat and Agra.

“I don’t think we have any plans to make the Maruti 800 BS-IV compliant,” Maruti Suzuki chairman R.C. Bhargava told reporters today on the sidelines of an industry conference. “When Euro IV is extended across the country, this model will have to be phased out as it would not be worthwhile to produce it,” Bhargava added.

When it was first launched, the Maruti 800 introduced Indian drivers to electronic ignition and floor shift gears. The car also made negotiating India’s pot-holed roads a lot easier.

“There is a nostalgic value attached to it. If Maruti plans to auction its last car, then certainly, there would be collectors waiting to bid for it…there is always a fascination to own something unique and the M-800 would certainly fit that bill,” Dilip Chenoy, director general of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, told The Telegraph .

“People have already upgraded to the Alto or the Swift. Thus, it is not going to have a very major impact on the sales of these two vehicles which can continue in the rest of the country,” Bhargava added.