Yesterday we told you about the new environmental performance labels that have been implemented in California expressing a vehicle’s emissions – and now an Indian manufacturer has implemented a similar scheme.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited, which is a subsidiary of Suzuki Motors, has become the first Indian automaker to comply with the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers’ new labelling program – which is a voluntary scheme first introduced in September. The scheme asks for all companies to make a disclosure of fuel economy by the end of March 2009.

The company has had its complete brand range tested by government approved test agencies, with its most economical vehicles, the Swift Diesel and the Dzire diesel, achieving the equivalent of 49.4mpg. The vehicle that performed worst for fuel economy was the Grand Vitara which produced a still commendable 26.3mpg.

At the moment India measures fuel economy on the basis of the driving cycle used for emission testing. For passenger cars, the Indian driving cycle is a lower speed variant of the New European Driving Cycle with a maximum speed of 56mph instead of 75mph which reflects the lower maximum speed that is practicable in the country.