Taking into account sales of the mid size SUVs in the country during the period April 2018 to March 2019, it has been noted that 82 percent of cars sold in the segment were powered by diesel engine while only 18% was powered by petrol engine. A total of 2,79,333 units of mid size SUVs were sold in the country during the period in question. Out of these 82 percent or 2,30,070 units were diesel engine variants while 49,263 units were petrol SUVs sold.
This preference towards diesel variants was more predominant in terms of sales of the Hyundai Creta, Jeep Compass, Renault Duster and Captur and the Nissan Terrano with the Hyundai Creta topping the list in terms of numbers. Hyundai Creta sales of 1,24,300 units saw 68 percent sales with 84,968 units of diesel engine variants sold as against 32 percent or 39,332 units of petrol variants sold.
In a second spot on the list was the Mahindra Scorpio SUV which only comes in diesel as there isn’t any petrol variant available in India. Here sales stood at 47,837 units while it was the same case with Maruti Suzuki S-Cross of which 37,822 units of its diesel engine variant sold during the period. Maruti S-Cross, which is offered with petrol options in international markets, is likely to get Suzuki’s new 1.5 liter petrol engine with Smart Hybrid tech, that powers the updated Ciaz and second-gen Ertiga in India from later this year.
Mahindra XUV500 sales were also 100 percent for its diesel variant with total sales of 25,938 units while Jeep Compass saw most of its sales for its diesel variant. Sales of the Jeep Compass diesel stood at 10,735 units while its petrol counterpart saw only 5,344 units sold during the period in question. This was a 67:33 percent distribution.
Renault had the Duster and Captur on this list of mid size SUVs at Nos 6 and 9 respectively. Both these models saw its diesel variants more in demand. Duster sales which stood at 10,319 units saw a total of 7,194 diesel variants sold as compared to 3,125 petrol variants sold. The Captur of which only 3,542 units were sold in the year, saw a total of 3,020 units of diesel variants sold as against 522 units of its petrol engine options. The Duster goes all petrol post BS VI implementation in India from 1st April 2020.
Tata Safari and Harrier also had 100 percent sales for diesel variants. Tata Harrier is only offered with a diesel option while there is no petrol variant as on date. Sales of the Tata Safari stood at 5,664 units while Harrier sales were at 4,363 units.
Nissan Kicks and Terrano also saw most of its sales for its diesel variants. Kicks sales at 2,691 units saw 68 percent sales for its diesel variants with 1,830 units sold as against 861 units of its petrol variants. The similar case was seen for Terrano with 90 percent of a total of 778 units being directed towards diesel variants and only 10 percent or 79 units for its petrol variants.
