Fuel-sipping cars to roll out

Here is some good news: the automobile industry will roll out more fuel-efficient cars. But only in 2017. From that year, prospective car-buyers will have more high-mileage models to choose from.

This is because the government recently made fuel-efficiency norms mandatory for car-makers.

All new cars will have to meet a prescribed mileage standard, forcing manufacturers to offer more choices to consumers.

For owners, gas guzzlers are out, high-mileage cars are in.

The mandatory fuel standards were notified on January 30 by the Power Ministry and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).

Wrangling within the government and intense lobbying by the automobile industry had put the brakes on the notification for the past six years.

To begin with, the norms have been kept lax to ensure that car manufacturers do not have to make drastic changes to their engines, leading to costlier cars. But the standards have been tightened for the next stage, which will kick off in 2021-22.

The fuel-efficiency norms will be based on the average weight of the fleet that car manufacturers sell in a year