Honda City & Maruti Ciaz buyers prefer petrols to diesels: Hyundai Verna buyers like both fuels

Maruti Suzuki declared sometime back that it will stop the production of diesel-powered cars in India after April 2020, which is the date when BSVI emission norms come into play. A few other manufacturers also have the same intentions once the new emission norms come into effect. However, the question asked by many is whether the sales of vehicles will be affected if diesel engines are put out of production. Today we take a look at the petrol and diesel sales of the top players in the C-segment sedan game, which includes the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Honda City and the Hyundai Verna.

In contrast to some of the other segments like sub-4 meter SUVs, where diesel sales are higher than petrol powered cars, the scene is quite the opposite in the C-segment sedan category. Almost 69% of the cars sold in this segment are powered by petrol engines. Talking about the Honda City, the Japanese manufacturer sold 34,647 units of petrol variants while the sales of diesel variants stood at 6,425 in the FY2018-19. This means that the petrol engine constituted 84% of the total sales of Honda City. In the same time period, Maruti sold 35,001 units of petrol powered Ciaz while sales of diesel-powered Ciaz stood at 11,168. Here also the petrol variants constituted 76% of the total sale during FY2018-19.

The Hyundai Verna, on the other hand, had a slightly different sales result. The manufacturer sold 19,823 petrol variants and 19.745 diesel variants, resulting in a nearly 50% distribution of sales. Overall, one could say that the non-availability of a diesel engine would not affect sales of C-segment sedans much. As for Maruti Suzuki, the company had said earlier that it could bring back diesel engine after April 2020 if the demand for it persists. However, it will only be limited to top end models like the Ciaz and S-Cross among others. Honda and Hyundai though are likely to continue offering diesel engines after BSVI emission norms are in effect, though the engines will be upgraded to meet the new regulations.

Talking about the cars here, both the Hyundai Verna and the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz come two diesel engines and one petrol engine options. The Honda City, on the other hand, gets one petrol and one diesel engine option to choose from. All of them also get automatic transmission options. However, the Honda City and Maruti Suzuki Ciaz only get an auto box with the petrol variants while the Verna gets an auto box only on the 1.6-litre diesel engine option. There is an all-new City sedan in the works for a 2020 launch, with a mild hybrid powertrain option. Hyundai is also working on the next generation model of the Verna sedan that will be launched here next year.

Sales Data Source