[TusharK]

Sales of diesel-powered luxury vehicles have seen a steady decline over the past 5 years as more and more buyers transition to electric vehicles.



Diesel vehicles accounted for 80% of the total luxury vehicle sales in India 5 years ago. In 2023, it dropped to 35%, while sales of EVs increased to 6% of the total volumes in the segment.

The data suggests that more individuals are opting for EVs in the premium segment. This is down to several reasons, including the ease of installing charging points at home or offices.

BMW India had a 50% market share in the luxury EV segment in CY2023. The company expects EVs to account for 25% of its total sales in the next 2 years. The share of diesel declined from 65% four years ago to 36% in 2023.

EVs made up 4% of Mercedes-Benz’s total sales last year. However, the carmaker expects the share of electric vehicles to reach 20-25% in the next 4 years.

According to Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head of Audi India, manufacturers are likely to find it unviable to offer diesel options to customers, once the share of diesel in sales of luxury vehicles drops to 20%. Audi has already moved away from diesel and only has petrol and electric cars on offer.

Source: ET Auto

Link to Team-BHP News

[GTO]

Originally Posted by TusharK

Diesel vehicles accounted for 80% of the total luxury vehicle sales in India 5 years ago. In 2023, it dropped to 35%, while sales of EVs increased to 6% of the total volumes in the segment.

Many reasons for this:

- Diesels are taboo in North-India due to the 10-year ban on them. North-India is also the largest market for luxury cars.

- The rise & rise of turbo-petrols. Today's turbo-petrols are a pleasure to drive.

- Audi discontinued diesels. Volvo stopped selling diesels. Lexus is petrol-hybrid only. Jaguar-Land Rover have diesels in some models, but the petrols are priced significantly cheaper (compare the petrol : diesel prices of the Defender, as an example).

- BS6 has made the diesels even more expensive.

- Enthusiast-oriented diesels are becoming rare. 530d discontinued, I hear the C300d has also been discontinued.

- Diesels are the dominant choice only in big, heavy SUVs (Scorpio-N, Fortuner etc.). But the way those big German SUVs are priced, they are out of reach for anyone but the super-loaded.

- Price gap between the two fuels has narrowed.

[Cresterk]

Not due to buyer's preferences but rather due to draconian bans in NCR. Pollution has only increased since then. But hey, atleast the nation's biggest car maker which has no diesels in it's lineup managed to profit heavily from it.

[HighOnSpeed]

Originally Posted by GTO

Many reasons for this:

- Diesels are taboo in North-India due to the 10-year ban on them. North-India is also the largest market for luxury cars.

I would like to highlight that Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala together account for nearly 55% of the total luxury car sales. Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana and West Bengal account for about 40% of net sales. But yes, a ban on 10+ years Diesel cars in Delhi has caused a lot of panic in the market(both on the seller and buyer side). XD

The 10-year ban on Diesel seems to be the biggest deterrent for people buying new diesel luxury cars. The ban seems to have instilled fear in the minds of new buyers all across India that there is a possibility of the ban extending to other regions as well. Honestly, I and several close associates of mine have decided not to procure expensive diesel vehicles for that very reason as well. However, I have noticed that new BS6-compliant vehicles have little to no smoke even when there is a heavy load on the engine. Still, I would like to err on the side of caution now. Sadly, the BS6 norms have put the manufacturers in a tight spot and in an attempt to adhere to them, there have been a lot of compromises on the performance front. Besides, modern petrol units have managed to achieve similar FE figures now and the dwindling price gap between the two fuels doesn't seem to help sell the idea that diesels are much cheaper to run.