``We have filed an application in the transport department of the Delhi Government on Monday to obtain permission for unrestricted vehicle registration in the NCR as all Honda City variants conform to Euro-I emission standards,'' HSCIL president and CEO T Fujisaki told newsmen.

Honda City cars have already been certified by the Pune-based Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), the official certification body for vehicles in India, as Euro-I compliant, he said.

``In fact, the emission levels of Honda City are much lower than the maximum permissible values as per the more stringent Euro-II standards,'' Fujisaki said.

HSCIL is the third car manufacturer which has approached the Delhi government and sought unrestricted vehicle registration in the Delhiregion.

Earlier, Daewoo Motors India Ltd (DMIL) and Mercedes Benz India Ltd (MBIL) had approched the government for the registeration of their respective car models on the grounds of conformity with Euro-II norms.

DMIL had applied for registeration of its Cielo, Nexia and Matiz models and got the Delhi Government's approval to register these vehicles in NCR.

MBIL had also told the state government that its `E-class' luxury cars met both Euro-I and Euro-II emission norms and hence the company should be allowed to register its vehicle without any ceiling, official sources said.

Commenting on the stringent emission norms, Fujisaki said ``Honda believes that the need to make low emission vehicles should be guided by a concern for the environment rather than be influenced by emission norms which are expected to be met by automobile manufacturers.''

``HSCIL awaits clarity about the exact values of emissions, the testing procedure and cycle and for an announcement about the testing and authorising agencyfor Euro-II compliance certificate in India,'' he said.

The company was confident of meeting the Euro-II norms easily, with a large margin of safety, Fujisaki added.

The Supreme Court had directed the government to register only Euro-I compliant vehicles in the NCR from June 1 upto March 31, 2000 and Euro-II vehicles after from April 1, 2000.

First consignment of exports flagged off

Honda Siel Cars India Ltd (HSCIL) on Wednesday exported the first consignment of its Honda City cars to Sri Lanka, in a bid to achieve the export target of $1 million during the current fiscal year.

The first 10 completely built units (CBU) of Honda City cars were flagged off in New Delhi by company president and CEO, T Fujisaki.

The company has targeted to export 1,000 vehicles during 1999-2000 to the neighbouring countries and African markets, Fujisaki told.

HSCIL is identifying new target markets, but the main thrust would be on exports to the neighbouring countries including Bangladesh and Mauritius.

Thecars would be distributed in Sri Lanka through Honda's distributers, Fujisaki added.

As per the MoU signed by Honda Siel and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), the company has to achieve a broad neutralisation of foreign exchange by balancing imports with exports.

Fujisaki said though the export obligation started only from the third year of commencement of production, Honda Siel has started exports within the second year of its operations.