Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) announced on August 30 that it had stopped accepting bookings for the Innova Crysta diesel due to very high demand. However, there are rumours that Innova diesel has failed the COP test conducted by the International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT).
The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) in Pune or ICAT in Manesar conducts a COP test every six months. The vehicle must pass this test by being in compliance with the vehicle model type allowed in terms of all components impacting the engine’s emissions of gaseous and particle pollutants, emissions from the crankcase, and evaporative emissions. In this test, vehicles are chosen at random from a series and put through a variety of tests. The authorities request a lot of three vehicles for the test, and even if a particular lot doesn’t meet the requirements, the automaker is allowed to send up to 32 vehicles from the most recent mass-production batches for retesting right away. Car manufacturers are given time to explain themselves to the authorities after repeated failures. While the COP test methodologies are exactly the same in India and Europe, there is a distinction between testing carried out by external bodies in India and manufacturers’ abroad practise of self-regulation.
Although TKM is keeping quiet, the sequence of events has sparked rumours in the industry, particularly among potential consumers and dealer partners. An unnamed dealer representative claimed that they had received unofficial word from the manufacturer that production of the diesel MPV had ended because the current Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE-2) regulations had forced a move away from diesel.
