The customers of the segment-leading Maruti Suzuki Dzire preferred petrol engine the most at 59 per cent last year
For several years, the Dzire has dominated the sub-four-metre sedan segment and the latest generation launched in 2017, further consolidated its position in the space. In the last calendar year, Maruti Suzuki registered a total of 1,98,904 units with the majority of the customers opting for the petrol variants.
About 1,16,406 units were for petrol models equipped with 1.2-litre engine and the remaining 82,498 for 1.3-litre diesel version with penetration ratio of 59:41 in favour of petrol. In the whole of the segment, the volumes of the petrol variants had dominated that of the diesel except for Tata Zest and Ford Aspire, which had it in 50:50.
The Amaze had its second generation launched in 2018. The most worthiest of contenders for the Maruti Suzuki Dzire had a good initial run when the latest version went up on sale but its sales reduced after a period of time. A total of 67,715 units were recorded in 2019 and the petrol sales dominated by quite a big margin.
| Model | Petrol | Diesel | Total |
| 1. Maruti Suzuki Dzire | 1,16,406 | 82,498 | 1,98,904 |
| 2. Honda Amaze | 53,642 | 14,073 | 67,715 |
| 3. Hyundai Xcent | 14,443 | 4,772 | 19,215 |
| 4. Tata Tigor | 11,279 | 1,792 | 13,071 |
| 5. Ford Aspire | 4,326 | 4,392 | 8,718 |
| 6. Volkswagen Ameo | 3,618 | 3,086 | 6,704 |
| 7. Tata Zest | 424 | 5,026 | 5,450 |
About 53,642 units of the total sales were for the 1.2-litre i-VTEC petrol model and the remaining 14,073 unit were for 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel at a penetration level of 79 per cent for the former. The Xcent stood third in the compact sedan segment’s sales chart for the calendar year 2019 with 19,215 units and the brand new Aura was introduced only recently in India.
Amongst the tally, 14,443 units were for the petrol variants and the remaining 4,772 units for the 1.2-litre diesel version at a rate of 75:25 in favour of petrol. Tata Motors has two sub-four-metre sedans in its lineup and the Tigor is the one scoring decent tally ever since it reached showrooms back in 2017.
At fourth position, the Tigor’s 1.2-litre Revotron petrol engine equipped variants were the most preferred by customers as 11,279 units accounted to 86 per cent of the total sales last year. The Ford Aspire had it at 50:50 though as 4,326 units were for the petrol version and 4,392 units were for the diesel.