Hyundai i20 Diesel: The end of the road for this car! The company to stop production of THIS model from next year

Hyundai i20 Diesel: RDE, or Real Driving Emissions norms, a new, stricter set of emissions regulations, will go into effect on April 1, 2023. As a result, a number of cars or car variants won't be upgraded to the new emissions standards. This is mainly because doing so would be extremely expensive, hence these models are going away. The Hyundai i20 diesel is one of them, according to information obtained by Autocar India.

Decrease in sales

Two gasoline engines and one diesel engine are offered with the i20; given that the diesel option only accounts for about 10% of sales—or about 700 units per month on average—Hyundai is unsurprised to be limiting its losses there. Compare that to 2015 when the split between i20 petrol and diesel sales was 50:50, and you can see how far the demand has fallen.

Previously, every high-end hatchback offered a diesel engine choice, but today just the i20 and Tata Altroz do. The first cars to disappear are hatchbacks as consumer choice shifts away from diesel. In addition to the basic variables influencing the transition, hatchbacks have a far higher price gap between the equivalent petrol and diesel types than, instance, larger cars like SUVs. When used mostly in cities as opposed to on highways, diesel's advantage in fuel efficiency is also ineffective.

Hyundai India diesel line-up will start from Venue

The Grand i10, Nios, and Aura siblings all quietly lost their diesel versions earlier this year, so the i20 won't be the first tiny Hyundai to do so. In addition to having significantly different diesel and gasoline sales (the Nios' diesel sales differential was less than 5%), these two models also had a distinctive 1.2-litre, three-cylinder diesel engine that was exclusive to them and no other model. This engine was absolutely not worth saving as a result.

On the other hand, the i20's 100 horsepower, 1.5-liter, four-cylinder diesel engine is shared with the Kia Sonet and Venue, while the i20's more potent 115 horsepower variant with a variable-geometry turbo (VGT) is also utilised by the Creta, Verna, and Alcazar (not to mention a number of Kia models). The 1.5 CRDi engine will remain in all the other models and be modified to comply with the new RDE requirements while being dropped from the i20. Hyundai's SUV lineup is significantly more dependent on diesel, which still accounts for over 60% of sales of the Creta and over 35% of sales of the Venue.

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Whether Hyundai will preserve the fixed-geometry turbo engine with 100 horsepower exclusively for the Venue or just swap in the more potent VGT engine with 115 horsepower from the Creta remains to be seen. As upgrading for RDE is a significant undertaking, it makes sense to combine the engine into a single version since Kia already utilises it for the Sonet diesel automatic.

Upgrading diesel engines to meet RDE norms is expensive

The detailed technical explanation of what the RDE rules require will be saved for a another story, but the main takeaway is that the emissions regulations are even harsher than they were in the past. They take effect in April 2023, and many current engines—mostly small-capacity diesels—will need to be updated to comply.

The most important conclusion is that all diesel vehicles must switch to the pricey SCR (selective catalytic reduction) technique of emissions management. Up until now, smaller diesels with lower pollution levels could meet emissions regulations by using the easier and significantly less expensive LNT (Lean NOx Trap) technology. All the larger diesels, generally upwards of 2.0 litres, meanwhile, had already moved to the SCR system to meet the BS6 norms of 2020. You’ll recognise them by their AdBlue filler next to the fuel filler cap.

The cost of adding an SCR system to Hyundai's 1.5 diesel will increase significantly, widening the price differential from petrol variants. This will have a significant impact on the i20, a vehicle whose diesel variants don't sell in significant quantities. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Hyundai is discontinuing the i20 diesel while remaining committed to the fuel. Actually, the 1.5 diesel with SCR is getting an upgrade from Hyundai (and Kia) for the complete lineup of SUVs.

Hyundai does not want to give up on diesel engines, despite the fact that companies like Maruti, Renault-Nissan, and the whole VW Group have long given up on them since the implementation of BS6, and that others like Honda are about to do the same as a result of RDE.

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