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Highlights
Diesel passenger vehicle sales were stable at 18% of the Indian PV market in the BS6-RDE emission phase.
CNG car sales grew by 30% in 2023, with a market share gain of 2.2%.
Petrol vehicle sales growth was a mere 3%, with a market share loss of 3.3%.
Market
Since 1st April 2023 BS6-RDE emission standard phase kicked in, and manufacturers were not allowed to produce non-compliant vehicles; however, they were allowed to sell BS6 vehicles produced before 31st March 2023. This time it didn’t have any significant impact on fuel mix, unlike in 2020, when BS6 emission standards were implemented and diesel-mix took a nose dive.
Petrol
Petrol vehicle sales growth was a mere 3%, with a market loss of 3.3%. This is because in the lower price segment, CNG gained share due to a softening of CNG prices and wider offerings.
Maruti controls 48% of the petrol market, with Swift being the best seller. The average petrol car sales price was close to ₹ 10.3 lakh due to the higher mix of small crossovers now.
Diesel
Diesel car sales volume and overall mix have remained stable in the stricter BS6-RDE phase. This is because Mahindra, Tata, and Hyundai-Kia have shown strong commitment to customer needs for low running costs, uncompromised performance, and practicality offered by diesel engines.
This segment is strongly dominated by SUV/Crossover due to their larger size and weight. And sales of bigger cars take the average car sales price to ₹ 18.2 lakhs. Mahindra is the undisputed leader with 50% of the diesel vehicle market due to its wide array of UV offerings.
Even in the luxury segment, Mercedes and JLR have over 50% diesel mix, which is especially beneficial for their large SUVs. BMW, however, has seen a drop to 33% due to higher sales of its BEV product range.
CNG
CNG car sales grew by 30% in 2023, with a market share gain of 2.2%. This is largely driven by wider product offerings from Maruti, the introduction of innovative dual-CNG tanks from Tata, and the softening of CNG prices. CNG still caters to low-value product offerings, having an average sales price of ₹ 8.7 lakhs and MUVs, with a large contribution coming from fleet operators.
Maruti remains a dominant player with 74% of the CNG market share, and Wagon-R was the best seller at 16% and the preferred choice among shared mobility service providers.
BEV & HEV (Strong-hybrid)
We have covered this extensively in BEV & HEV analysis report - click here.
Fuel mix of the Top 30 selling cars in India for CY2023 - click here.