Citroen India has decided to only launch petrol cars in the mass market segment, and steer clear of diesel models, owing to the recent market trend.
This was revealed by Senior Director, Marketing Operations and Corporate Communications, Citroen India, Saurabh Vatsa, recently.
While the French brand’s first car for India, the C5 Aircross, will indeed come with a 2.0-litre diesel motor when it gets launched early next year, affordable cars developed under the brand’s “C-Cubed” programme will be petrol-only.
Customers today prefer petrol models over diesel, with the ratio being 75:25 (and rising to 80:20) in favour of gasoline cars. Thus, the carmaker, being a new entrant, wants to concentrate on where sales lie.
According to Vatsa, the higher asking price of diesel models and almost equivalent pricing of petrol and diesel fuels have eroded the advantage of running diesel vehicles for most buyers.
Another aspect working against diesel cars is regulatory framework. In the NCR, for example, a person cannot own diesel cars for more than 10 years, while the registration for petrol vehicles is valid for 15 years, further strengthening the case for petrol models.
It must be noted that the automaker makes a 1.5-litre diesel mill at the PSA-CK Birla production facility in Hosur. However, since mainstream segments will only get Citroen petrol cars, the brand will not locally produce an affordable diesel model here.
After launching the C5 Aircross before March 2021, Citroen will introduce its made-in-India sub-4-metre SUV later that year. As mentioned before, it will come as a petrol-only model, but will have a turbocharged engine nonetheless.
In addition, by 2022, the carmaker will launch a Hyundai Creta-rivalling compact SUV, also with the 1.2-litre turbo petrol engine (but with more power) and will then likely concentrate on premium hatchbacks and sedans.
Citroen Petrol Cars
- Citroen India will only introduce petrol cars in the affordable segment
- The carmaker wants to concentrate on where sales lie
- However, the C5 Aircross will come with a diesel heart
Source – AutocarIndia.com