OEMs have already written detailed letters to ministries of power, heavy industries and road transport & highways on the matter.The deadline for finalising the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) 3 rules is near and India’s top car OEMs have petitioned the Prime Minister against vehicle weight-related emission relaxation in emission norms.
The norms are expected to be finalised soon for implementation, beginning FY27. The proposal not only mandates stricter fleet wide emission targets for all OEMs, it has also introduced a special category of cars weighing up to 909 kg with relaxed emissions.
This single provision has created a deep divide among OEMs, with Maruti Suzuki India in favour and some other heavyweights bitterly opposed to this new, weight-based classification for determining emission targets.
Now, JSW MG Motor India has written to the PMO for retaining the existing approach to decide fleet level emissions, without introducing a separate category of passenger vehicles based on weight. Industry sources indicated that two other top car OEMs – Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Mahindra & Mahindra – will also be writing to the PMO with similar pleas later this week.
These letters are being sent after industry grouping SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) was unable to generate a united stand about the weight criterion despite multiple stakeholder meetings. OEMs have already written detailed letters to ministries of power, heavy industries and road transport & highways on the matter.
The vehicle weight issue has arisen due to a provision in the draft CAFE norms proposed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). The draft introduces a mass-based linear formula to determine the Annual Average Fuel Consumption (AAFC) Standard (expressed in petrol equivalent litres per 100 kilometres) that a manufacturer must meet. The standard is directly linked to the manufacturer’s weighted average unladen mass of its fleet and the proposal speaks of annual tightening from 2027-28 to 3.01 litres/100 km by 2031-32.
Put simply, this means each year, the permissible emission of the entire fleet of vehicles of each OEM will be lower and each OEM has to show its AAFC to be less than or equal to the standard fixed for that year. The draft refers to vehicle models with specific characteristics being eligible for an additional reduction in their manufacturer-declared CO2. This eligibility is partly defined by mass.
So, a model with unladen mass up to 909 kg, engine capacity up to 1200 cc and length up to 4000 mm is eligible for a further reduction of 3 g of CO2.
This weight-based relaxation, JSW MG Motor India says, “may have implications for regulatory consistency and … level playing field across manufacturers where a single OEM has 95 per cent market share”. The reference is to Maruti Suzuki India, which has been pushing for a relaxed metric for cars which weigh up to 909 kg.
An industry leader told ETAuto that secretaries of at least two of the ministries involved in deciding CAFE 3 norms said recently that the norms would likely be finalised soon. This has lent urgency to the matter, with OEMs opposing weight criterion escalating their efforts and knocking on the PMO’s doors.
JSW Motor India has not only opposed creation of a new definition of the small car through the vehicle weight-based relaxation proposed under CAFE 3, it has also cited safety considerations, saying “over time, to support conformance to safety regulations, vehicle weights have increased”. It has also alluded to expanding road infrastructure, which is “being upgraded for higher speeds and better traffic flow. This demands safer, structurally robust vehicles”.
Altering level playing field
In any case, the GST definition of small cars has been guiding the industry since 2006, when the definition of what comprises a small car was first introduced in India. “All investments (have been) made with that as the basis. We firmly believe that the creation of any such sub-category of vehicles based on weight can have adverse effects in terms of the nation’s progress towards safer, cleaner cars and can alter the level playing field for industry players,” the company has said in its letter.
Vehicle weight automatically increases in case of EVs, since they include batteries. So, linking weight-based benefits to small cars risks “slowing EV penetration as EVs are structurally heavier due to battery weight”.
A car in India weighs anywhere between 750 kg to 2500 kg, making the industry average car weight 1170 kg. One of the OEMs had said earlier in its representation to the ministry of heavy industries that so far, all cars rated under Bharat NCAP exceed 909 kg “indicating that lighter vehicles may not necessarily meet safety thresholds”.
Then, there is buyers’ increasing preference for heavier cars amid declining sales of entry level hatchbacks. Their share in total PV sales was down to just 10 per cent in FY25 from 29 per cent in FY15. In the last five years, though, compact SUVs have grown from 16.8 per cent to 28.6 per cent.
When asked about different OEMs lobbying for and against relaxation to small cars, a senior government official had told ETAuto earlier “we cannot allow large cars to continue polluting for longer”, without elaborating further. Meanwhile, in its response to the CAFE 3 draft, SIAM had written to the ministry of heavy industries that its members have “mixed” views “on the topic of benefit of 3g for petrol cars below 909 kg unladen mass”.
