General Motors (GM) India, the Indian arm of the American auto major General Motors has stated its surprise to the increase in demand for petrol cars against diesel cars. The increase in demand has changed the market anticipation of the carmaker.
With the narrowing down of the price rift between petrol and diesel brought about by phased increase in diesel fuel price and decrease in petrol price, the demand for cars has significantly shifted to petrol cars from diesel cars.
According to Mr. Rajesh Singh Vice-President (Sales) General Motors India, the gap of Rs 30 between the prices of diesel and petrol in 2012 has almost halved in 2013. This has proved to be radically different from the carmaker’s anticipation of 80:20 demand mix for diesel and petrol cars respectively. It has also affected the stock components some of which had been imported from China.
Mr. Singh stated that the automaker is currently receiving an increasing number of enquiries for petrol models. Commenting on the launch of the Sail sedan, he added that 55 percent of the demand for Sail is tilted towards petrol versions. As a result, the waiting period for the petrol version of the Sail sedan has increased to about 4 weeks.