Country’s largest car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki, has said that it intends to bring Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) versions of its models and step up green technology in its cars as part of its initiatives to protect environment.
Maruti Suzuki became the first car company in the country to launch a car that conforms to Bharat Stage – IV emission norms, ahead of applicable date. BS-IV norms will come into effect in April, 2010. The company is now working to make other cars in its range BS-IV emission norms compliant. The A-star’ launched in Europe as Suzuki Alto is marketed strongly on its environment friendliness and has been a huge success.
Shinzo Nakanishi, managing director and chief executive officer, Maruti Suzuki India, said in a press release, “In terms of future technology that is still to come to India, newly launched Maruti Suzuki models like A-star and Ritz meet the End of Life norms that are yet to be adopted in India. Progressively, we will make all Maruti Suzuki models ELV compliant by 2010.”
Compliance with ELV (End-of-Life) norms in Europe implies that the A-star and Ritz use ecologically harmful substances such as Chromium, Cadmium, Mercury and Lead only within permissible limits as per European standards, thus ensuring re-cyclability of material.
Earlier, the company had introduced K-series engines as part of its commitment to take the engine technology in India to next level. The K-series engines currently power Ritz and the A-star. Suzuki has designed these engines with an aim to play a crucial environmental role globally. The company feels that introducing Green Engine technology is vital for reducing CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. The export version of A-star known as Suzuki Alto’ in Europe, has CO2 emissions as low as 103g/km as against current limits of 130 g/km.
In addition, the company’s research and development team is currently working on a definite road map for CNG run vehicles. “Our initiatives for non-conventional clean fuel will take a step further in the coming times with factory fitted CNG options on several models”, Nakanishi said. Maruti Suzuki was the first car manufacturer in India to launch LPG as alternate fuel option in cars. Company’s Maruti 800, Omni and WagonR come with dual fuel (LPG-cum-petrol) variants.
Source: Times of India