Narrowing down of costs between petrol and diesel is spurring demand for petrol-driven cars in the country  Thanks to narrowing down of prices between the two major automotive fuels, petrol and diesel, the demand for petrol-driven cars are slowly witnessing an upswing. Car makers that have been increasing production of their diesel variants are suddenly taken aback by the surge in demand for petrol cars. Analysts opine that although diesel variants still sell more than petrol-driven cars, a sudden spur in the petrol variant will take sales of the latter at par with the former.Greater resale value
According to Jaspal Singh, head of sales of KSM Motors Pvt Ltd, a Volkswagen (VW) dealer in Mumbai, “One of the major reasons spurring the demand for the petrol variant is the fact that they are easy to maintain and also fetch more value on resale as against their diesel counterparts. With increasing dynamism in the urban car market, consumers are opting for cars known for low maintenance cost as well as provide more return on investment.” Mr Singh also added that steering and gear process in petrol cars are much easier than that of diesel cars, which makes driving easy in traffic.
Easy maintenance costs
Moreover, according to Devraj Saha, assistant sales manager of Deewar Garage, a Maruti Suzuki dealer in Kolkata, “One of the advantages of petrol cars is that service charges of these cars are lower than diesel ones. Moreover, initial investment in purchasing a diesel car is much higher than petrol cars. New variants of petrol cars boast of better torque and brake horse power.” Deregulation of diesel prices announced last week by the government is expected to further spur the demand for petrol-driven cars as the same will bridge the price difference between the two automotive fuels to a great extent. However, choosing a clear winner between the two automotive fuels still has a long way to transverse.
Arup Choudhury |
