{
  "id": 851637,
  "title": "Japanese auto, motorcycle makers back India's drive to cut fossil fuel use",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/14/japanese-auto-motorcycle-makers-back-indias-drive-to-cut-fossil-fuel",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-14T08:30:12.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Mainichi",
    "slug": "the-mainichi",
    "url": "https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260814/p2g/00m/0in/024000c"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently called on Indians to cut petrol and diesel usage, promoting public transit, carpooling, and electric vehicles. This aligns with a broader shift in India's mobility strategy, with Japanese automakers adopting a technology-neutral stance. India, the third-largest crude oil importer globally, is promoting electric mobility, biofuels, natural gas, and flex-fuel technologies to diversify its energy sources. Maruti Suzuki India, the country's largest carmaker, emphasizes the importance of multiple technologies to suit India's unique resources, infrastructure, and customer needs. These include battery electric vehicles, hybrids, efficient combustion engine vehicles, and flex-fuel, natural gas, and biogas-powered cars. The government's push for ethanol blending and flex-fuel vehicles has sparked concerns about fuel efficiency and vehicle compatibility. Japanese automakers, including Yamaha Motor India and Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, support a diversified approach to mobility, considering electrification, hybrid systems, and alternate fuels based on customer demands and local infrastructure. Delhi recently announced an electric vehicle policy to boost EV adoption through incentives, charging infrastructure, and restrictions on some fossil fuel-powered vehicles' registrations. India and Japan are cooperating in clean energy, economic security, critical minerals, batteries, hydrogen, bioenergy, and supply chain resilience.",
  "summary": "NEW DELHI (Kyodo) -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent appeal to Indians to reduce petrol and diesel consumption is reinforcing a broader shift in",
  "key_points": [
    "Prime Minister Modi urges Indians to reduce petrol and diesel use",
    "Japanese automakers adopt technology-neutral mobility strategy",
    "India promotes electric vehicles, biofuels, and flex-fuel options"
  ],
  "editors_take": "Japanese automakers' backing of India's diversified mobility strategy signals a shift away from a single-fuel focus, allowing the country to leverage various technologies to reduce fossil fuel dependence.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}