Petrol prices recently took another revamp and before we can breathe, there is another talk of a further hike in the near future. Realizing all this can hurt sales, car manufacturers in India have all of a sudden shifted focus to diesel powertrains. Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors have strong diesel offerings but are now considering to expand these. Whereas companies like General Motors, Toyota and Honda are planning to start their diesel innings in the volume segment, others like Ford and Hyundai are already receiving dividends after taking the decision to launch diesel vehicles a few years back.
General Motors will launch the diesel Beat in June, Toyota will launch the diesel Etios in December, while Honda will come up with diesel powered Civic and Brio by 2013. Currently diesel cars account for around 28% sales in the Indian car market, but this figure is said to increase to 35% in the next couple of years. This will surely be an advantage to companies like Volkswagen and Nissan which have almost all their cars available with diesel engines.
