Maruti Suzuki India Limited, the country's largest auto maker, is expecting that the demand for petrol models will soon match with the diesel ones as the gap between the prices of both the fuels have reduced significantly. Speaking on the same, the Chairman of Maruti Suzuki, R C Bhargava was quoted as saying, “We had always expected this to happen, because the diesel option constituted almost 70 per cent of the cars which had diesel, this was driven by artificial pricing. Since the pricing gap is coming down, we will expect diesel cars to come back to 40-50 per cent. I think we are getting there.”
He further said that the current condition of the Indian auto market is dwindling with a massive fall in the volumes. According to him, the volume driven by diesel models during last year have either remained unchanged or have come down. “It is not only for us but even for players with strong diesel portfolio. Diesel cars have lost their attractiveness in the market. It will take time for the economy to revive. We see a 5-6 per cent kind of growth this year too.”
Expressing his views on the stock of models, Bhargava said that the auto maker is planning to balance it in June 2013. “The production of any model has to be adjusted according to the demand,” he added later. As per him, Maruti Suzuki is aiming that it retains the dominant share in the Indian auto market at 40 per cent. The Chairman said, “Competition is a given in today's age, you can not run away from it. All of them will try their best, but the market is large enough for everyone to grow in the mid to long-term.”
