SUVs ban: Auto experts oppose Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi, Nov 13: Following Environmental Minister Jairam Ramesh's claim that riding heavy cars, especially the Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) is a crime in India and it should stay off roads, auto mobile industry reacted strongly against Jairam.

Jairam on Nov 12 stated, "We are worried about the rate of green house emissions from transport sector. There is need for mandatory fuel efficiency standards. Big vehicles like SUVs should stay off roads."

However, in a response to the minister's remark on SUVs and other big cars, auto expert Tutu Dhavan claimed, "The Minister needs to have some more facts and figure in mind."

"See in the early 90s when the diesel contribution to the automobile was barely between 3-5 percent, today in 2010 it is almost 37 percent and what are the volumes we are talking of SUVs in that is not more than 2-3 percent," it added.

Finally, he questioned, "how is that going to help anybody in banning SUVs. Why not ban the entire diesel range?"

OneIndia News