Diesel car owners never had a good time than they are having now. Operating costs of diesel cars are drastically down now when compared to petrol cars because of 50% difference in price in diesel and petrol fuels. The good news that’s surfaced is excellent resale value for diesel cars.
CEO, S. Saha, Mahindra First Choice Wheels Limited elaborated that the earlier car market now looks like the current car market. Since a few months, the demand for diesel cars is on the high. There is a 15% to 20% rise in customers preferring diesel cars over petrol cars. Dealers say that strong demand meant diesel car prices have risen to 15% to 20% over the last 6 months.
The demand has been so much that dealers are finding it pretty difficult to acquire diesel cars because of limited supply.
An unnamed car dealer that deals in second-hand cars from Mumbai says that owners of diesel cars are not thinking of selling their cars and that new cars are costing more hence supply of cars is really down.
Saha told it is really difficult to acquire high-quality personally driven diesel cars, and cars that are generally good have high prices.
Deepak Pasricha, AP Motors, New Delhi told there has been a 50% increase in diesel cars demand in four to five months and around 20% to 25% for CNG automobiles.
Therefore, it is not a surprise that diesel versions of Tata Motors Indica, Maruti Swift Dzire and Indigo are top-selling cars at the moment. There is also a demand for older cars of Hyundai Accent, Hyundai Verna, Ford Ikon and Indigo Marina.
With 15 years of experience in the business, Harish Khatri, Chennai Motors, elaborated that customers were ready to pay between 10% to 15% premium for diesel cars, and they were aware of diesel technology benefits. He also said that customer preferences are shifting to diesel due to hike in petrol prices. He further told he was selling 20% more of diesel cars when compared to the last 6 months.
Ayaz Fazulbhoy, Fazulbhoys Motors, Mumbai, feels there would be a continued demand for diesel cars as long as there was a significant difference in diesel and petrol fuels.
Petrol prices have trended up to 34% from June of last year. The difference between petrol and diesel prices currently is between Rs. 22 to Rs. 26.
Dealers said the petrol cars scene was a different one in that customers who run their cars minimally for occasional needs would prefer to go for a petrol car.