Diesel car sales to increase in India

Published: Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 18:20 [IST]

Carmakers in India believe Diesel car sales will increase from the present 30 per cent to as much as 50 per cent in the next three to four years. Diesel car sales which have been increasing consistently over the past few years has been helped by the widening price difference between petrol and diesel. Diesel variants of models such as the Suzuki Swift, Dzire, Volkswagen Polo and Ford Figo have seen exponential sales and have a long waiting list.

Shashank Srivastava, chief GM (sales & marketing) at Maruti Suzuki India has said that the demand for diesel has been very high, prompting companies to look at more and more variants on the fuel that used to command 23 percent of overall sales in 2005-06. He expects the diesel percentage to be significantly higher than the 30 percent now. And it can be as high as 45-50 percent over the next three-to four years. Maruti Suzuki made a late entry in to the diesel scene with the diesel variant of the Swift. It is currently expanding its diesel engine production.

Neeraj Garg, director of sales at Volkswagen Passenger Cars said that diesel can be half of the total car market even before three-to-four years. Volkswagen which entered the Indian car market just two years ago is offering all its models in both petrol and diesel variants. Mr Garg said the increase in diesel car sales took Volkswagen by surprise and the company was forced to accelerate production of diesel cars. The company's two mainline models-Polo hatchback and Vento sedan have 50 percent of their sales on diesel.

Already, companies are padding up for the big push in diesel. Hyundai is setting up a diesel engine plant whereas companies like Maruti, GM and Ford are boosting the capacity of diesel engines.
Arvind Saxena, director (sales and marketing) at Hyundai India said: “The trend is certainly strong, but we at Hyundai believe it will grow by another 5-7% in the next three-to-four years. Even this increase should not be seen as small as it comes in a large growing market."

Carmakers that did not have diesel models in India are also keen to cash in on increasing diesel car sales. While Honda is developing a new 1.5-litre diesel engine, Toyota will launch a diesel variant of the Etios Liva.

Article Published On: Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 18:17 [IST]

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