Luxury car companies shifting to petrol power

After the ban imposed by the Delhi Supreme Court with regards to the any and all new diesel cars that have an engine capacity of more than 2.0-litre, many of the luxury car makers are boosting their petrol portfolio in India.

Chrysler, which plan to launch its Jeep brand in India next month also plans to add petrol variants to its range. Likewise the big three German luxury-vehicle makers and Volvo are boosting their petrol portfolio.

Diesel has been the preferred fuel for high-performance cars and SUVs, because when turbocharged, it works better than petrol. In the luxury end of the market, 70-75 per cent of vehicles sold in India run on diesel. Worrying about the possible negative sentiment towards diesel as a more polluting fuel, at a time when buyers are increasingly considering petrol as the abolition of the subsidy on diesel has removed an incentive to pay more to buy diesel-powered vehicles.

The two German rivals of Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, too are seeking higher allocation for petrol vehicles until the current ban on registration ends in the NCR. The share of petrol vehicles in Swedish car maker Volvo’s portfolio almost doubled to 10 per cent in 2016, said its market director, Sudeep Narayan. Local majors Mahindra & Mahindra and Toyota Motor have promised petrol options on their popular models.

Source – Economic Times