Audi will equip all its cars with a petrol engine option and the A6, Q3 and Q7 will get petrol engines in India.
The Indian car market is seeing a shift in demand towards petrol vehicles and thus manufacturers are bringing back petrol engines to their vehicles. Mercedes recently committed to equipping all its cars with a petrol engine and Audi has done the same. Meanwhile, BMW recently brought back petrol versions of the 3-Series and 5-Series to India.
Audi will launch a petrol variant of the A6 in the next few days while the fourth generation B9 A4 is being launched with a petrol engine only, the 1.4-litre TFSI motor. A diesel version of the Audi A4 will be launched later. Audi will be launching a petrol variant of the Q7 later this year with the SQ7 diesel also planned.
The German automaker recently imported the Q3 30 TFSI to India which is powered by the same 1.4-litre TSI petrol engine that does duty in the Skoda Octavia and Volkswagen Jetta, it will also be made available on the Polo. The mill outputs 148 BHP and 250 Nm, paired to a 6-speed DCT gearbox, power going to the front wheels in the Q3. While the top speed is 204 km/hr, the 0-100 km/hr acceleration time is 8.9 seconds. The motor also gets cylinder-on-demand tech to reduce fuel consumption.
Audi is taking this step of equipping all its cars with a petrol engine due to the NGT ban on big diesel engines and the higher taxes on diesel cars as the government perceives them to be more polluting. Audi estimates a loss in sales of 1500-2000 units a year, valued at around Rs. 760 crores.
Audi Q3 1.4 TSI
– Audi has imported the Q3 1.4 TSI to India
– The Audi Q3 1.4 TSI does the 0-100 km/hr sprint in a respectable 8.9 seconds
– The petrol Q3 might have less displacement but is no slouch
– The new Q3 variant will become the entry-level Audi model in India
