Primarily known for its diesel SUVs, Mahindra’s new family of petrol powertrains named mStallion brings in increased sales in this category as well
There are many reasons for the Indian car buyer’s shift to petrol powered vehicles. For starters, the higher price of diesel powered vehicles along with the reducing price difference between petrol and diesel fuel prices has resulted in increased demand for petrol powered vehicles.
In addition to, petrol vehicles have a longer initial registration life of 15 years while diesel vehicles have only 10 years. Every automaker in India has noted a marked migration towards petrol vehicles and Mahindra, which at one time had an exclusive diesel driven portfolio, has recorded its highest petrol vehicle sales yet, in FY21.
Along with new petrol offerings, Mahindra is also planning an onslaught into the electric arena with launch of 9 cars over the next few years out of which 6 will be electric models to include the XUV700, W620, W201, along with one based on the new XUV300.
Petrol vehicle sales in FY2021
In FY21, Mahindra sold a total of 1,55,540 passenger vehicles, a dip of 1 percent over 1,80,299 units sold in FY20. Of these total sales, petrol share stood at 12 percent while diesel models accounted for 88 percent and only 0.01 percent from its electric models that include the Verito and E20.
Of the total PV sold in FY21, petrol car sales stood at 19,061 units with the XUV300 being the company’s best-selling petrol model, contributing 16,038 units, or 47 percent to total petrol sales while Thar’s petrol share stood at 2,735 units. There were also 288 units of the KUV100 petrol variant sold in the past year.
Diesel sales were at 1,36,469 units with the Bolero, XUV300 and Scorpio commanding a major share. 59,657 units of the Bolero were sold in FY21, just a marginal increase over 59,044 units sold in FY20. The Bolero is an exclusive diesel only model along with the Scorpio, XUV500, Marazzo and Alturas.
XUV300 diesel sales dipped from 25,199 units sold in FY20 to 19,927 units since the share of petrol engine options received more attention. Sales of the Scorpio diesel was at 34,325 units in FY21, down from 38,826 units sold in FY20. Thar saw 11,452 diesel variants sold along with 2,735 petrol units taking total sales to 14,186 units in FY21, up from 2,151 units sold in FY20.
Upcoming XUV700 and Scorpio
Mahindra is planning launch of the new XUV700 and Scorpio which will be powered by a 2.0 liter turbo petrol engine. Diesel option will also be on offer. Mahindra aims to increase their petrol vehicle sales share to 35 to 50 percent of total sales in coming years.
