Siam says scrap old cars

Faced with crippling slowdown and rising vehicle pollution, apex auto industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) has suggested to government that all private cars made before 1996 should be scrapped to boost demand for new vehicles and push sales of environmentconscious vehicles. Siam has advocated to the government for a regular scrappage policy for private and commercial vehicles as well as two-wheelers to ensure that there is a regular churn and burn-out of old vehicles, while adding new and more efficient ones at the same time. And, there would be incentives on new vehicle purchases in the form of sops like lower excise and sales tax as well direct cash benefits for those who scrap their old vehicles. Siam president S Sandilya said scrappage of vehicles, in lines of a similar practice in the West, is a must as India graduates to stricter, and more cleaner, vehicle emission norms. The scrappage, however, is likely to be a non-starter considering that India does not have a scrappage policy in place that spells out how the scrap has to be disposed off and handled. Also, with no scrappage policy, the average age of many vehicle on the road is very high and any forced junking will surely lead to widespread protests. “While a cut-off point of 10-year vintage could be considered for commercial vehicles, it may be appropriate to fix the cut-off point of private vehicles at 15 years or above. This suggestion is based on the assumption that maintenance practice of private vehicles are likely to be better. while their usage is likely to be lower than commercial vehicles,” Siam added. “In order to discourage people from running old polluting vehicles, the rate of road tax and rate of premium on motor vehicle insurance could be increased progressively with the age of the vehicle,” Siam has said in its proposal to the finance ministry and the ministry of heavy industries.