After green court diktat, sales of diesel cars take a hit, 40% drop in enquiries

LOSING OUT Prices of used cars drop by 70%, dealers say the green tribunal has not been sensitive to their interests

booking and buy a petrol Elite i20 instead,” said Pulkit Singh, a chartered accountant in Delhi. “I stay in west Delhi and have to travel to Gurgaon for work daily so a diesel car made sense. But its resale value over that of a petrol car after five years would be significantly lower. If my daily travel goes up I will fit a CNG kit in my car,” he added.

Unhappy with the ban, dealers’ associations in the city say the green tribunal has not been sensitive to their interests and has not incentivised or issued clear guidelines on systematic phasing out of diesel vehicles. “We are going to file a petition in the Supreme Court in the coming week. I have written to the President, transport ministry and to the Delhi chief minister. If I don’t get a response from the government soon, I am going to call a nation-wide agitation of car dealers,” said J S Nayol, national president of All India Car Dealers Association.

The Delhi-NCR region accounts for nearly 18% of the country’s car sales. The sale of diesel cars in Delhi had been picking up since the fuel is cheaper but of late consumers are returning to petrol models as the price difference between the two fuels has narrowed, said a senior executive at a Maruti Suzuki dealership in the Capital. According to the dealers, the NGT order makes sale of luxury cars in Delhi-NCR difficult and they will have to compromise on the price if they sell them to buyers in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. That too, is possible only if the government issues a no-objection certificate.

“We have suffered a loss of `4 lakh on a Mercedes E 200. Same is the case with cars like Endeavour and others,” said, Santosh Kumar (37) of Hariom Motors in Lajpat Nagar. “For an Indica of 2005 model, the resale value has come down from `60-65,000 to `35-40,000,” he added. Shadipur Mandir Marg Anand Vihar R. K. Puram Punjabi Bagh Income Tax Office Satisfactory Minor breathing discomfort to the sensitive

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