Strictly looking at the penetration, Renault’s 1.0-litre petrol engine found in the Triber and Kwid attributed to the majority of the brand’s volumes in 2019
The Indian automotive industry suffered huge drop in sales volumes in 2019 due to various reasons but the twelve period also saw the petrol models overtaking their respective diesel counterparts in volumes. The narrowing price gap between both the fuels and the soon-arriving BSVI emission standards hampering the production of the diesel engines can be pointed as the key reasons.
Some manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki have opted to discontinue all their diesel powertrains while others including Hyundai do find potential in them. Last year, about 67 per cent of the total vehicles sold were powered by the petrol fuel. Maruti Suzuki retailed 11,51,752 petrol cars that contributed to 77.5 per cent of its domestic sales in entirety.
Hyundai, Tata and Honda managed 72.7 per cent, 65.1 per cent and 78.4 per cent of their total volumes respectively come from petrol models. But, brands like Mahindra which predominantly sells SUVs and Toyota witnessing its major sales from Innova Crysta and Fortuner, had diesel variants coming on top with 93.9 per cent and 76.8 per cent respectively.
| S. No. | OEM | Petrol% |
| 1. | Renault | 91.2% |
| 2. | Honda | 78.4% |
| 3. | Maruti | 77.5% |
| 4. | Hyundai | 72.5% |
| 5. | Nissan | 70.6% |
| 6. | Volkswagen | 66.7% |
| 7. | Tata | 65.1% |
| 8. | MG | 57.2% |
| 9. | Kia | 54.8% |
| 10. | FCA | 41.3% |
| 11. | Ford | 40.3% |
| 12. | Skoda | 39.6% |
| 13. | Toyota | 22.7% |
| 14. | Mahindra | 5.7% |
Data Source: AutoPunditz
Considering only the contribution of petrol models within a brand’s numbers in percentage, Renault sold 81,089 petrol cars as against 7,780 diesel units with 91.2 per cent penetration. It is worth noting that the French manufacturer finished only in seventh position in the overall domestic sales charts for the whole year ahead of Ford, Kia, Volkswagen and Nissan.
Honda finished second in terms of penetration with 78.4 per cent of its total sales from petrol models – 1,05,663 units as against 29,078 units from diesel variant. Maruti Suzuki slotted in third ahead of Hyundai and Nissan, and it begs the question whether shelving all diesel variants could cost the largest car producer in the country in the longer run or not.
As for the South Korean carmaker, 3,70,903 units were attributed to petrol models while the contribution of diesel was 1,39,065 units. Nissan registered 16,636 units of petrol cars last year while 6,944 units were for diesel variants as the penetration stood at 70.6 per cent for the former. Kia had somewhat an even penetration as 24,920 units were for petrol variants and about 20,574 for diesel models.
Data Source: AutoPunditz