The automobile market did not witnesses too impressive sales in recent times. With the recent drop in fuel prices car buyers in the country have started opting for petrol trims owing to marginal price advantage on the diesel trims. Due to this, leading carmakers in the country like Maruti Suzuki and Honda have witnessed a growth in petrol car sales of about 62% in comparison to the last five year period. The price difference between diesel and petrol models has been just about Rs 10 – 11 as compared to three times higher figures witnessed sometime in mid-2012.
Speaking more on the occasion, Jnaneswar Sen, Senior Vice President for sales and marketing at Honda Cars India, said, “Month on month, we are seeing the share of petrol cars in our portfolio going up.” commenting further, Ajay Seth, CFO at Maruti Suzuki, said, “Petrol vehicle growth for Maruti has been 17% compared with 21% for industry inth the December quarter, while Diesel sales volume growth has been -12.7% for industry, while Maruti recorded -5% growth in the same duration.”
The diesel vehicles are offered at larger discount ranging between Rs. 15,000 to about Rs 1,00,000 depending on the vehicle size and category. In order to cater to change in trends, carmakers like Mahindra and Tata Motors who have been popular choice in the diesel segment are now planning to introduce petrol powered trims.
Source: ET
