[shortbread]

Brent has now crossed $120/barrel and there isn't a respite in sight. Of course there will continue to be fuel price fluctuations, but overall it is only headed in one direction and that is UP.

This would have had a big impact on most car buyers. In that case, has the continued rise of fuel prices made you reassess buying/owning cars? Please state your position and why so.

Kindly note this thread is not for arguing the pros and cons of ICE or EV cars, neither is it to gauge political opinions. The intention is to gauge how Team bhp members car ownership/purchase decisions have been influenced (or not) by rising fuel prices. I feel this will be an excellent sample representation of how the Indian automotive market will change going forward. Thank you.

Appendix:
ICE - Internal combustion engine, cars powered purely by petroleum products
EV - Electric vehicle/cars, cars running on battery power alone
PHEV - Plug-in hybrid car, i.e. vehicles using electric motors and a combustion engine, operating either one or both when required. Albeit mass market hybrids are at least 18-24 months away in our market.

[adisan]

No. I have changed my driving style to further increase the FE, in order to slightly offset the fuel cost increase.

[shortbread]

I have voted for my next purchase in an approx. 2 years time being an EV.

Fuel prices are climbing and the plan is to generate my own fuel/electricity as much as possible. That said I think there will be far better options in a couple of years time as well as a settled automotive market post the ongoing supply chain crisis.

[BLACNWYTE]

Voted for option 2.

I don't see myself changing my rides just yet. Blu is in his fifth year and Panda (Creta) has just crossed 4. I'm intending to keep both for the full 15 years of RC validity. Right now the increasing fuel prices doesn't hurt me much as my monthly running is not much and is mostly served by Blu.

I have always been a sedate driver/rider and has got decent FE from all vehicles I have driven. Now with the skyrocketing fuel prices I've discovered that my light right foot can be even lighter.

However, I'm almost sure that Panda is going to be my first and last ICE car and in all probability the same for Blu too. EV is the future and who knows, 10 years down the line there will be cars which can run 1000kms on single charge with an affordable battery technology.

[ValarMorghulis]

I have a petrol Venue SX+ DCT.
My running is pretty low but plan to increase it in this year including trips exploring complete south India. Have started taking out the car for short trips more often.

Has the continued rise of fuel prices made me reassess owning the car?
Nope. A Rs.10 increase per litre will also make my pocket lighter by only Rs.450 (for a tankful) which is less than the cost of a medium sized pizza.
Haven't changed my driving style which is pretty sedate by itself.

As of now there is no EV in my sights or plan.

[Eddy]

I will continue to drive a regular ICE car for the next 2-3 years. That's when my current rides will become obsolete (one petrol, one diesel). Let's see what the situation is then, but I am not the one to experiment and become an early adopter so not sure if I will go the EV way.

Hence if I were to buy one today, it will be a petrol car only.

[sunikkat]

If I have to buy a new car now, it will definitely be a ICE car, mainly petrol considering the challenges with diesel now.
Lets see how things are few years down the line, if EV cars are significantly better than ICE then might change my view. But currently EVs are not even in my consideration irrespective of the segment.

[Tygerman]

I voted for 2. I would love to have an EV but not yet. In the coming years, the range on EVs is bound to increase and the infrastructure will be getting better.

Later this year I am planning on purchasing a second car and have plans to convert my current Suzuki Dzire (AGS) to an EV. With multiple start-ups, there's competition and the conversion kits will eventually be affordable to most of us. Currently Northway MS charges 5-7 lakhs for EV conversion.

[locusjag]

We need proper hybrids such as the Prius, Ford Fusion hybrid etc. in India. Let's see where we land in the future. Until then I'm going to shuffle through used ICE cars. Nostalgia is for old men and I'm feeling nostalgic about a few specific older ICE car models...

[yogishkamath]

I don't intend to be among the first 20% of the population to switch to an EV.
I also don't intend to be among the last 20%.

I will stay with the herd on this one, thank you very much.

[RJK]

Umm, there's a definite post-poning of decision for sure. We were thinking of replacing our 8yrs old Innova (1.5L kms done) withe something (probably XUV 700 or some other 7 seater) this year or earlier next year but looking at the fuel price hike, we might just push this decision forward. The Innova is as such well maintained & any expenses that might occur might be cheaper to fix than buying a new car. Can budget about a 1L in expense towards maintenance than spend 20L & continue paying extortionist fuel prices. Innova isn't the greatest in fuel economy and our car does about 2000 kms/month. So next best choice is another hybrid or electric vehicle whenever available.

As such we have to brace for biting inflation later on, so probably wiser to hold on to the cash than spend it.

Cheers

[sumeethaldankar]

For the next decade I would bet on Hybrids as they are suppose to use roughly half the fuel needed by a vehicle to cover the same distance. However we do not have proper hybrids which are affordable only mild ones which do not benefit much.

We do have proper EV's so I am wondering if the market will go the EV way and hyrbids will get skipped over completely. Even Toyota has started toying with EV's so in the next few years we will come to know.

For now, there is no need of a car at my end. My Swift has done 600~ kms since Mar 2020 so a new car is out of the question for quite sometime.

[Turbohead]

This is a really tough poll.

We require a range of atleast 700kms which are often driven with minimal breaks. This sort of rules out EVs for the next 2 years. Maybe 5 years down the line, I'll seriously consider it since the technology would've become more reliable along with standard fast charging available across various regions.

But the regular turbocharged petrols are too hard to ignore.

But the fact is, I'm expecting speed cameras to become more common, with the sole intention of fining people and thus, I'd honestly be better off with hybrids in the next 2 years.

The current car is 8 years old and will most likely be replaced at the 10 year mark unless we fancy utilising all of the road tax paid.

Voting for Hybrids since that's the practical choice for a diesel user who can't digest single digit highway mileage when he decides to have some fun

[vivekkp]

In my honest opinion i do not see EV as a viable option as the current Li-Ion batteries are more harmful to our environment than the ICE. I see EV only as a transition step from ICE to Hydrogen combustion engines which could be a sustainable mode of transportation.

This article shed more light on this topic : https://www.volvocars.com/images/v/-...lca-report.pdf

[DicKy]

" NO, There is no change and I will continue driving/buying pure ICE cars as long as petrol/diesel are available

YES, My next purchase in an approx. 2 years time period will likely be a PHEV/Hybrid "

Torn between these two options.

As of now, will opt for BEV only as a city car. Priced max at 7 lakhs ( which kinda rules all BEVs out). Looking to see how Mahindra launches the Atom.

Even if sub 15 lakh diesels do die out after CAFE/RDE, I am all set for proper hybrids. They are best suited for our road/traffic conditions and can't wait for the Toyota D22 model to launch the tech. That is if Honda doesn't steal the spotlight with the City hybrid.