Audi India aims to have a portfolio mix by 2020 that will be made in equal parts by diesel as well as alternative fuels including petrol and EVs, the company said.
Diesel, the once preferred fuel for luxury carmakers in India is taking a backseat as the NCR diesel ban as well as a macro shift towards cleaner fuels is driving OEMs to tweak their product portfolio.
“Our roadmap for 2020 is to have an equal share of 50 per cent diesel and 50 per cent alternative fuels which will have petrol at the minimum and hopefully at some stage, an EV also,” Rahil Ansari, Brand Director at Audi India said on the sidelines of the launch of the petrol-based Audi Q7 40 TFSI Quattro.
Audi currently has a variant mix of 70 per cent diesel and 30 per cent petrol which the company sees growing to 35 per cent to 40 per cent in 2018.
The share of petrol in 2015 was a mere 10 per cent in its overall vehicles portfolio. Ansari also said that while the epicentre of the diesel ban, Delhi-NCR saw an early switch to more petrol in 2015 itself when the ban was carried out, taking the share of petrol in that market to 50 per cent, the company is seeing the demand for petrol growing in some unexpected markets.
“Surprisingly in the South, which is a strict diesel market, we are seeing a shift towards petrol taking place which is interesting,” said Ansari. The share of petrol in Mumbai is around 20 per cent.
However, even though the company plans to set aside half of its offering strictly for alternative fuels that may include EVs also, it will wait for the charging infrastructure in India to firm up before it makes a commitment for an EV launch in the country.
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