2021 car sales by fuel type: SUVs drove diesel demand in 2021, trend to continue in 2022

As far as new-car sales by fuel type are concerned, in the first 10 months of CY21, 74.1 per cent cars were petrol-powered, 18.4 per cent diesel-powered, 7.1 per cent powered by CNG, and 0.4 per cent electric cars. In the same period in CY20, the sales share was 75 per cent (petrol), 18.7 per cent (diesel), 6.1 per cent (CNG) and 0.2 per cent (electric). It implies that while the sales share of petrol cars dropped by 0.9 percentage points, that of diesel cars dropped only by 0.3 percentage points. This, despite the fact that the country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki exited the diesel space completely and Tata Motors discontinued smaller-capacity diesel engines post BS6 implementation from April 1, 2020, onwards.

Suman Jagdev, partner, Praxis Global Alliance, added that the demand for diesel engines is significant in the overall utility vehicle (UV) segment, specifically in the midsized UV segment, which is a fast growing and highly popular space within the passenger vehicle (PV) space.“Hyundai has recorded high demand for the diesel-powered Creta and Venue SUVs. OEMs such as Mahindra and Toyota have also witnessed high demand for their diesel offerings,” Jagdev said.

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