2016: The year that was

Asia’s largest auto show, cross-country drives, a new speed record, nearly a 100 launches and lots of surprises made the year gone by our busiest and most exciting ever. Here's a recap

Champion of champions  

Our annual celebration of all-round excellence saw the Renault Kwid win the 2016 Autocar Car of the Year award at a glitzy function on January 29, 2016. Not surprising, the Kwid has gone to become a roaring success and a case study for global automakers on how to get it right at the budget-end of the Indian car market. Only 23 cars were eligible for the award but they were as disparate as the BMW i8 and the homegrown DC Avanti. In the two-wheeler category, the Bajaj Pulsar RS 200 took home the ‘Bike of the Year’ crown.

Against all odds

We have to admit it was a noble cause and worth the punt to see if restricting the number of cars choking Delhi roads would reduce air pollution. With this in mind, on January 1, 2016, the Delhi government rolled out the much-debated ‘odd-even’ scheme for 15 days in a bid to reduce the thick smog that clings to the capital in the winter months. Under this plan, cars bearing registration numbers that ended with an odd digit were allowed to ply on odd dates, while those ending with an even digit were allowed to commute on even dates. The radical scheme was again implemented on April 15, for a fortnight. While the state government declared the exercise a success, experts were unconvinced about the improvement in air quality. The scheme, however, did result in a significant dip in traffic on the roads.

Demonising diesel     

Also towards the same cause of reducing air pollution, the Supreme Court banned the registration of diesel vehicles with engine capacities over 2,000cc in Delhi-NCR. This sent automakers into a tizzy. Tata Motors, Toyota Kirloskar Motors and Mercedes-Benz India were among the ones seriously affected with many of their models falling under the ban and Delhi-NCR accounting for a significant chunk of their volumes. The ban was imposed in mid-December 2015 and was extended multiple times before being finally lifted on August 12, 2016, against the levy of 1 percent green cess on the ex-showroom price of the vehicles. The ban’s effectiveness remains under question as diesel emission and that too of select vehicles is only a sliver compared to the numerous actual pollution emitters. This sudden, illogical and irrational ban has scared diesel-only carmakers into launching petrol variants as insurance.