The decision to this effect was taken in view of the low sales figure for the vehicle and tremendous cost involved in making the vehicle Euro-I compliant, senior company officials said here.

However, efforts are on to introduce the new `Omni' van, conforming to Euro-I emission norms, by October this year, the officials added.

Registration and sale of both Gypsy and Omni have been restricted in the NCR since June one following a blanket ban by Supreme Court on sale of vehicles not conforming to Euro-I norms.

However, the officials refused to comment on the cost being incurred by the company in making the Omni Euro-I compliant. ``We are still working out the exact cost. It is also yet to be decided as to how much of it would be passed down to the customer.''

MUL is a 50:50 joint venture between the government of Indiaand Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan. The company is giving priority to the Omni van, since it is the firm's the second-largest selling model. ``The sales for Gypsy are not all that high to push us into rushing with a Euro-I variant. We would directly go in for a Euro-II compliant Gypsy in April next year.'' In the 1998-99 fiscal, Maruti had sold about 58,000 Omnis and 6,500 Gypsys in the country. All the vehicles from Maruti stables would be made Euro-II compliant beginning next fiscal.

It may be recalled that Maruti had not hiked the prices of its existing car models when they were modified to suit the Supreme Court order. The company had stated that it has incurred an economic cost of around Rs 5,000 to 10,000 per vehicle in the exercise. Maruti, the officials said, is fully equipped with both the technology and the components required to comply with the Euro-I and Euro-II emission norms. While the Esteem and Zen diesel were always Euro-I compliant, the Maruti 800 and the Zen petrol were made compliantfrom June one, 1999.

They further stated the firm was well on its way to meet the Euro-II norms by April 1, 2000 .