Fuel efficiency ratings create confusion for passenger cars buyers

An Energy Conservation Act, in its effort to reduce the emissions in the country, has prepared a draft for fuel efficiency standards for the Indian passenger cars. The draft expects to reduce the emission by around 2 per cent. But now the draft is facing certain problems because of the powerful reservations on the five-star rating system that has been proposed by BEE ( Bureau of Energy Efficiency). In fact, Bureau of Energy Efficiency has proposed a 5-star rating system for the passenger cars. This system will provide a particular mileage average which will be specified as kilometers per litre. This will act as a base standard for the cars. On the other hand, SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) had indicated that car with an average mileage of 14 km per litre may lie in the 5-star category but the other cars with 16 km per litre may belong to the 3-star category as per the proposed system.

According to the auto association, such mileage and categories of the proposed system may create an utter confusion for the buyer because variants of the same car ended up getting separate star ratings. Hence it was sounding unscientific. The association also said that the new regulations are being considered by the government too often which changes the star-rating of the same car frequently. The automobile manufacturers would now be required to submit their cars for type approval for every new guideline.

The auto experts think that the 5- star efficiency standards cannot be the same for consumer appliances and cars as the buyer gets a cost-benefit comparison at a retail outlet. Dr Pawan Goenka, SIAM president commented that many aspects of fuel efficiency standards and labelling have been agreed upon. They are working on few details with the government about how to introduce those norms. Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers is also going to launch a rating system for passenger cars from October 1.

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