Why are all the car companies stopping their diesel engines in India?

To know the answer to this we have to first understand the main difference between a diesel and a petrol engine.

Petrol has short chain hydrocarbons and hence is easy to ignite. While diesel contains long chain hydrocarbons which requires a very high temperature to combust. They also produce a lot of smoke and hence greater residual exaust gases.

Petrol engines use spark plugs and easy to make and hence cheap. While diesel engines use fuel injection and the fuel is ignited by compression of air-fuel mixture. Diesel engines are hence expensive to build.

In the past vehicle emission regulations (Bharat standard) were not so strict. Hence running a diesel vehicle was significantly profitable to run in the long term than a petrol vehicle. But in the past few years due to more strict regulations like the BS5 and the BS6 it became mandatory for all vehicles to conform to these standards. Which meant that the fuel economy provided by these diesel engines will be reduced. This is because to reduce the emissions the combustion temperature has to be reduced, which inturn decreases the fuel economy.

Hence, the difference of fuel economies between petrol and diesel engines reduced. Diesel engines no longer had the advantages it used to have over petrol engines.

Hence major companies like Suzuki and Hyundai stopped producing diesel cars.

But diesel engines are still used in more heavy- duty vehicles like SUVs and Cross-overs.