Maruti Suzuki's SHVS mild hybrid cars lose FAME incentives in India
Effective April 1, 2017, the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises has withdrawn all incentives under the FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in India) scheme for mild hybrid vehicles. Mild hybrid technology offers basic fuel-saving technology like an automatic start-stop system, a battery-assisted electric motor for gaining initial momentum from standstill and brake energy regeneration.
The two Indian manufacturers offering this technology currently are Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra. However, only Maruti Suzuki received benefits under the FAME scheme thanks to its SHVS (Smart Hybrid Vehicle by Suzuki) system. However, Mahindra with its Intelli-Hybrid system didn't. This, according to Mahindra, was because its system didn't check all the necessary boxes to be eligible for the incentive.
Either way, now that the incentives have been withdrawn, it doesn't matter. Maruti says that it does "not expect any significant impact due to withdrawal of the FAME incentive". The SHVS mild hybrid technology is currently available as a standard feature on the diesel variants of the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga. Customers who bought these cars could claim a Rs 13,000 incentive from the government at the end of each month. So essentially, this move will have no effect on the on-road or ex-showroom prices of the cars.