Audi India To Offer Petrol Engines Across Its Range

Many automobile manufacturers took a hit on the sales of their diesel-powered wagons when the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) completely banned the registration of vehicles powered by diesel engines equal to or greater than 2000cc. Every carmaker - from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Audi, to home-grown players Tata Motors and Mahindra - felt the heat of the ban. Recently, Mahindra announced that it will bring petrol engine options across its range of cars and that it was working on a 1.5-litre mill to start off with.

Next in line is Audi India, which has announced that it will offer petrol engines for all the models across its portfolio. This move is thanks to the shifting customer demands in the Indian market towards petrol-powered vehicles in the wake of the ban on big diesel cars and SUVs in Delhi-NCR. In fact, Audi India will first introduce the petrol variant of the A6 sedan next week. An all-new A4 sedan is in the pipeline as well, and is slated to hit the market next month.

"This year has been a very difficult one as customers are confused due to the issues such as ban of diesel in Delhi-NCR and different excise duties imposed on those vehicles. They had postponed purchases. It has been a real challenge changing our business strategy overnight from a predominantly diesel to petrol due to an out of the blue decision by the NGT and the Supreme Court,” Joe King, Audi India head has reportedly said. He added that these events have left a lasting impression on customers' minds in the rest of the country as well, and that they had also begun questioning the use of investing in diesel-powered vehicles, since there is a possibility of such bans coming into effect in the states they reside in.

Audi India estimates that it may lose around Rs 760 crore worth of sales this year due to the overall impact on customer sentiment that developed because of the diesel ban and the different excise rate for diesel vehicles. King added that Delhi-NCR is one of the company's biggest markets and its best-selling SUV, the Q7, was the worst hit.

Regarding future plans, King reportedly said, “Now there is a significant shift in demand for petrol vehicles. So we will ensure that all our models sold in India will have both petrol and diesel options by the first quarter of next year. The petrol option for Q7 isn't far away. On the sales growth, this year Audi could have a "flat or a dip from last year.'"

Currently, only the A3 and the A8 sedans are offered with a petrol engine. The much-sought-after Q series SUVs are all available with diesel engines only. Apart from these, the company also sells A4 and A6 sedans, along with the premium sports car, the R8.