Maruti Suzuki reports 31 percent increase in sales of CNG models.

Maruti Suzuki has reported growth of 31 percent in the sales of CNG models. The sales figure between April and November 2019 was 55,071 which has now grown to 71,990 between April and November 2020. Most of the sales were from big cities like Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. This is because the CNG infrastructure is strong in these states so people don’t hesitate so much in buying CNG vehicles as they know they will be able to find a CNG station whereas in remote areas you barely have petrol pumps nearby. So, people do not buy CNG vehicles in remote locations.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd has 14 vehicles in their portfolio out of which 6 vehicles are offered with a factory-fitted CNG option. The vehicles that are offered with CNG power train are Ertiga, Alto, Eeco, S-Presso, WagonR and Celerio. The premium vehicles such as Ignis, S-Cross, Vitara Brezza and the XL6 are not offered with a CNG option till now. The most successful CNG vehicle from Maruti Suzuki is the Ertiga which was able to report a growth of 415 percent! The sales numbers jumped from 3,324 units in 2019 to 17,109 units in 2020. This is due to the fact that Ertiga is also sold with a Tour M CNG variant that is used for commercial purpose WagonR was able to record more than 13 percent growth in CNG variants. In 2019, the sales figures for the CNG WagonR were 25,144 and in 2020 they increased to 28,308 units. The other two vehicles i.e. Celerio and Alto were able to maintain their sales numbers for 2020. In April-November 2019, Celerio sold 1,412 units whereas in April-November 2020 Maruti sold 10,990 units. Whereas the Alto clocked 3,195 units this year as compared to 3,542 units in the previous year.

One of the reasons for this sudden increase in demand for CNG vehicles is the rising costs of petrol. As you would know that petrol has reached Rs 84.70 per litre in Delhi and in Mumbai it costs a whopping Rs. 91.8 per litre. Whereas when compared CNG will cost you around Rs 45 per kg and you will also get better fuel efficiency with it which will also lead to a better range of your vehicle. Maruti currently does not have diesel engines in their line-up as they thought that sales of diesel engines will decrease after BS6 emission norms. Yes, the sales dipped for some time, but people are still buying diesel engines.

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For instance, 60 percent bookings for Hyundai Creta which was launched last year were for the diesel engine. Fortunately, Maruti Suzuki is working on bringing back its 1.5-litre diesel engine by the end of 2021. The manufacturer has already sold more than 5 lakh diesel vehicles. The engine that they are bringing back is capable of producing 98 bhp of max power and a peak torque output of 225 Nm. They will be offering the diesel engine with the Ciaz, Vitara Brezza and Ertiga.

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