Honda ventured into the diesel vehicle segment in 2013 with the Amaze compact sedan. Over the years, the company’s new 1.5-litre diesel engine has powered a variety of Honda vehicles and is still in service in the fifth-generation City, Amaze and WR-V. However, according to recent media reports, Honda may soon discontinue its diesel cars in India. In this article, we shared what the company officially has to say on the matter.

For the uninitiated, Takuya Tsumura, CEO of Honda Cars India, recently told the Times of India, “We’re not thinking too much about diesel right now. So we won’t do diesel. It is currently very difficult to extinguish RDE with diesel. Even in Europe, most brands could not continue to run on diesel when this regulation came into force. Something similar is happening in India.”

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The RDE (Real Driving Emissions) standards will come into force in April 2023. They require cars to meet emissions targets under real-world conditions, not just in a lab test. To do this, the vehicles must have an on-board self-diagnostic device called OBD2 as standard. This will make it much more difficult for automakers to comply with emission limits, especially for diesel vehicles.

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In response to Express Drives’ request, Honda Cars India said in an official statement: “Among the various powertrains in our total range, petrol has a dominant share of more than 90% and the share of diesel has declined. From now on we will be selling the diesel variants for a while. However, after the introduction of RDE, the situation will change and the diesel share is expected to decrease further. Therefore, we are currently evaluating which powertrain we will focus more on in the future.”

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Honda’s current Indian portfolio includes fourth and fifth generation City, City e:HEV, Amaze, WR-V and Jazz. The Honda City e:HEV hybrid sedan was launched in India earlier this year and is said to offer a fuel economy of 26.50 kmpl. According to media reports, Honda will end production of the fourth generation Jazz, WR-V and City by March 2023 and instead launch a new mid-size SUV next year.

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