According to market analysts, the drop will continue as they are expecting this year the market share to be between 35 and 36 percent
Diesel cars were more popular among customers few years ago until the price gap between petrol and diesel began to drop. Also the 15 year rule of diesel cars also affected the sales a lot as people didn’t had the confidence to buy diesel cars. Most of the UV’s were powered by diesel engines but now manufacturers are offering petrol engines also.
In 2017-18, the market share of diesel cars declined to 38 percent. According to market analysts, the drop will continue as they are expecting this year the market share to be between 35-36 percent. By the end of 2020, the diesel cars share will be 25 percent which will significantly affect sales of manufacturers which depend on sales of diesel vehicles.
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One of the reasons for drop in sales will be the price difference between petrol and diesel models as post BSVI implementation the price of diesel models will increase significantly, most of the manufacturers will have to invest lots of money to make current diesel engines meet BSVI emission norms which is very strict compared to the current norms.
But petrol engines didn’t need much change so the price hike will be minor. The gap between petrol and diesel fuel is already very low and this will reduce even further in coming years. The government is also encouraging alternative fuel powered cars like electric and hybrid which will affect sales of both petrol and diesel cars.
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The hybrid vehicles will be more efficient than current petrol and diesel engines. The government is expected to give some incentives for the customers to encourage these vehicles. By 2030, the government is expecting majority of the sales to be coming from electric cars and manufactures are pushing towards it.
In India majority of the sales are coming from hatchbacks and currently most of these are powered by petrol engines with only premium hatchbacks like Elite i20, Baleno, Polo etc get the option of diesel engine. But SUVs will continue to use diesel engines as most of these buyers prefer it over petrol which is why Mahindra is confident that diesel powered cars will gain traction in future with cleaner fuels.