Mahindra has always been a predominantly Diesel car manufacturer and has always had the highest dependence on diesel engines in the Indian market. However; the implementation of BS6 in FY2021 and the reducing price gap between the petrol and diesel fuel prices have led towards increasing acceptance of petrol-powered vehicles in India. The impact was seen for M&M too and the OEM recorded its highest ever Petrol vehicle sales in FY2021!
M&M sold 1,55,540 Passenger Vehicles in India for FY2021 and the volumes dropped 14% when compared to 1,80,299 units sold in FY2020. Mahindra had 12% of its sales coming from the Petrol models, 88% from Diesel models and just 0.01% from Electric.
Petrol, Diesel and Electric Modelwise Contribution for Mahindra -
Mahindra sold 19,061 Petrol Cars, 1,36,469 Diesel Cars and only 10 Electric Cars in FY2021. Mahindra's CNG sales dropped to Zero as the OEM wasn't able to launch the BS6 avatar of the KUV100 CNG in FY2021.
Mahindra's oldest workhorse Bolero was also the best-selling model for the automaker. Over 38 percent of Mahindra's volumes came from Bolero in FY2021. Do note that Bolero is a Diesel-only offering from Mahindra.
Similar to Bolero, the other Diesel-only models in Mahindra's portfolio are - Scorpio, XUV500, Marazzo and Alturas.
Mahindra XUV300 emerged as its best selling Petrol model for FY2021 and over 84 percent of Mahindra's petrol engine sales came from XUV300 alone! Do note that 47 percent of XUV300 sales are of petrol variants.
Mahindra took a long time to get their petrol engines onboard. It launched petrol-powered KUV100 and it set the tone for future Mahindra petrol engines. The engine is still in use in the KUV100 and available in a higher state of tune in the Mahindra XUV300.
Thar registered a surprising increase in Petrol variants sales. 19 percent of Thar sold in FY2021 had a Petrol heart! Who had anticipated that a body-on-frame vehicle will sell in a Petrol avatar in the Indian market? Thar was also Mahindra's second-largest selling Petrol car in FY2021!
Petrol, Diesel & Electric Modelwise Contribution for Mahindra -
Currently, only 3 out of 8 models in Mahindra's range have a Petrol engine option. Mahindra is strategically planning to increase the availability of petrol engine variants in the rest of the range and is betting big on Petrol SUVs.
Mahindra’s family of petrol powertrains named Stallion is already available in the naturally aspirated 1.2L version that does duty in the KUV100, and the 2.0-litre one that powers the refreshed Thar.
Mahindra has tasted failure before with Petrol engines. It had initially launched Scorpio with a petrol engine which was sourced from Renault but failed miserably as the customers weren’t happy with the torque and power delivery. It saw a similar fate with Petrol-powered XUV500. However; the perception changed and M&M has now recorded considerable volumes of petrol XUV300.
Tata Motors has seen a dramatic turnaround in sales post its shift in focus to Petrol vehicles. However; Mahindra emulating Tata's strategy would be a bit difficult as it is an SUV-heavy brand. But, the changes in government regulations and fuel pricing is forcing all automakers to take petrol cars seriously. Mahindra too is not left behind and the OEM is heavily investing to develop diesel engines. Thar 2.0L Petrol engine is proving extremely successful and the automaker is going to launch Mahindra XUV700 as well with the same 2.0L engine but in a higher state of tune and shall likely develop 180hp.
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