Want to Book a Petrol Car for Diwali Delivery, It may be Too Late

If you are planning to buy a petrol-powered car this Diwali, it may be too late if you haven't booked one already. Some of the top-selling petrol car models have waiting periods running into months. More so if it is a gearless model or one of the high-end versions. Booking now for a Diwali delivery may be almost impossible on these models.

While production constraints and logistic problems may also be the reasons for the long waiting periods, new trends also indicate changing consumer preference, now back to petrol cars as the government has phased out diesel subsidy. As the price difference between diesel and petrol has narrowed - petrol price has been decontrolled in June 2010 - their lower cost of acquisition has started attracting buyers back towards petrol cars.

Even in a falling automobile market in the past two years, the huge price difference between the fuels had kept demand for diesel-powered cars much stronger, forcing auto makers to rework their production strategies to focus more on vehicles running on the heavier fuel.

 As recently as six months ago, out of 10 car buyers, seven preferred diesel, according to Honda Cars India, the market leader in the mid-size sedan segment. But now, half its customers want petrol cars, said Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice president of sales and marketing at the local Honda Motor unit.

Same is the case at the local unit Korean car major Hyundai Motor. "Diesel vehicle are still seeing positive traction, but the growth will led by new models and petrol-driven cars," said Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice president of marketing and sales at Hyundai India. If you want to buy a petrol-powered EcoSport, Ford Motor's top-selling product in India, you may have to wait for about a month. And, if you want an automatic-transmission variant of the compact sport-utility vehicle, it may take two-three months to get the delivery, said Ford dealers ET has spoken to. But a diesel EcoSport may be in your garage without any waiting, depending on your region and colour preference. That indicates a big change in customer preference. After Ford launched the SUV in 2013, the demand for diesel variants was so high that the company had to slow down production of petrol EcoSport to meet diesel orders.

Automated manual transmission (AMT) - a clutch-less technology that combines the fuel efficiency of manual-transmission with the convenience of automatic cars - is becoming another demand driver. The waiting period on the AMT version of Maruti Suzuki's Celerio hatchback is more than 10 weeks, while its manual transmission variants are available for almost immediate delivery. No other vehicle from the nation's top car maker by volume has a waiting period, a company executive said.

For Honda City, the top-selling mid-size sedan, the waiting period goes to more than three months. This is also because the manufacturer has recently halted production of the car because of a shift in its production units. Honda's recently launched multi-purpose vehicle Mobilio has a waiting period ranging between two and three months. The high-end variants of Honda's City and Amaze have longer waiting period. The City VX automatic may take four months to become yours, irrespective of the fuel option you preferred.