Straight Drive

Bhushan Mhapralkar

The months of March, April and May 2017 will go down in the history of the Indian CV industry as a period of chaos, challenge and change. The three terms are also representative of the future, which it looks like, is going to be unlike what the industry has experienced till date. A key stakeholder of the CV industry compared the decision to stop the sale of BSIII CVs to a vertical touchdown of a plane. Another industry leader mentioned that they cut down production earlier on, and therefore did not feel the impact as much. The stoppage of BSIII vehicle sale led to panic, at least initially. It also highlighted another side of the industry; a side that is about standing up to a challenge. A side that is about finding a way out. Two key CV players went on record to mention that they started working on BSIV technology well before. The window to next, stringent BSVI emission regulations, is only two years away. The industry is already ahead in this direction. But that is not the only challenge expected. A challenge of considerable magnitude, in the near future, will be GST. It will be followed by the challenge of crash norms, CAFE regulations, and others. Proliferation of alternate fuel technologies and electric CVs will also add to the technological demands the CV industry will have to address. The future will never be the same again.