Rise in petrol price boost demand for diesel driven premium cars and SUVs

Recent reports suggests that major car manufacturing companies dealing in SUVs and high-end diesel cars in India witnessed good sale figures of their diesel cars, primarily could be due to recent increase in petrol prices. According to sources, cars which are mainly sold in diesel like General Motors Captiva and new Volkswagen Passat witnessed amplified sales figures in May, 2011. Further Mercedes Benz India which comprises of long fleet of luxury cars and sells 60 percent cars in diesel variants also experienced promising growth. However, it is worth mentioning that around 341 Mercedes C Class cars were sold in May 2011 with a growth rate of 45 percent compared to previous year sales records.

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Contented with the amplified figures, Director, marketing and sales, Mercedes Benz India, Debashis Mitra reportedly said that their diesel car sales in India are increasing due to increase in petrol prices. However, he also said that Mercedes Benz will not disclose the model wise sales of cars in report. Further due to increase in petrol prices as well as higher interest rates, General Motors saw higher sales figure in the sale of GM Captiva SUV in May 2011 compared with cars sold in May 2010. It is worth mentioning that GM sold 143 GM Captivas this May in comparison with 84 cars last year. Moreover, company also saw dip in sales of GM Cruze sedan with only 659 car units sold in May 2011 compared to 854 units sold in the same month an year ago. GM India, VP, P Balendran reportedly said that downfall has been experienced by complete market due to high interest rates and increased petrol prices.

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Balendran also said to have further added that reason of Chevrolet Cruze sales going down and increase in the sales figures of Chevrolet Captiva sales resides in the fact that some Chevrolet Captiva cars which were booked in April were delivered in May. Additionally, new Volkswagen Passat also witnessed total sales of 184 cars in May. Meanwhile, Korean company, Hyundai Motor sold 122 Hyundai Santa Fe diesel SUVs after its launch in September 2010.

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