AutoQ is our weekly round-up of the automotive stories that matter.
Cars You Can’t Buy In India From April 2020
The upcoming Bharat Stage 6 (BS-VI) emission norms has meant that a number of car makers are pulling models off the market as they don’t see them being viable to sell once the new regime comes in.
A number of car makers have discontinued their diesel models completely because the cost of upgrading the existing BS-IV emission-norms compliant cars to BS-VI was just not worth it. Plus, the sticker prices of these cars would have made them far more expensive to buy.
These are some of the cars that you won’t be able to buy after 1 April 2020.
Read the story
Bajaj Dominar 250 Launched, Prices Start at Rs 1.60 Lakh
Bajaj has just launched a smaller version of its Dominar 400 - the Dominar 250, powered by a single-cylinder 250 cc motor that is shared with the KTM 250 Duke. The Dominar 250 is priced at Rs 1.60 lakh ex-showroom, about Rs 30,000 lower than its sibling.
Dealers have already been taking bookings for the Dominar 250 ahead of launch. The Bajaj Dominar 250 will compete with the Suzuki Gixxer 250 and KTM 250 Duke as well as Yamaha’s 250 cc bikes.
More details on the Bajaj Dominar 250 here.
New Hyundai Verna Coming Soon with a 1-Litre TurboPetrol Engine
Hyundai will be launching the 2020 edition of the Hyundai Verna in the last week of March. This BS-6 compliant Hyundai Verna not only gets a facelift, but it also comes with three new engine choices. Hyundai is dumping the 1.6-litre diesel and petrol motors as well as the 1.4 litre models in favour of newer BS-6 compliant motors.
The Hyundai Verna will come with a 1-litre turbocharged petrol motor, as found in the Hyundai Venue, which puts out 120 PS of power and 172 Nm of torque. This will come with a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and also likely with a six-speed manual.
Read more on the Hyundai Verna here.
Why Are Fuel Prices Not Falling Much, Despite A Crude Oil Tumble?
India raised excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre on 14 March, but there won’t be a retail price increase as falling crude prices will absorb this duty hike. Crude oil prices are falling globally. And that should theoretically have a direct impact on the prices of petrol and diesel sold in India.
While prices of fuel have dropped in the past few days, the lowering in price has not been proportionate to the fall in crude oil prices, despite it being “market-linked” now with a daily revision in prices. While the price of crude oil heading to refineries has dropped nearly 40 percent (even after the rupee depreciated against the dollar), retail prices of fuel haven’t dropped even 10 percent.
Read why this is happening here.
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