With prices of oil forecast to touch $200 per barrel this year, auto makers in the country have launched a slew of options that are not just fuel efficient but also easy to maintain.
Battling the rising fuel bill is premium car maker Honda Siel, who will launch the country's first hybrid car - the Civic hybrid shortly.
The company says the hybrid car is 47 per cent more fuel efficient than its petrol counterpart. The hybrid car that is kitted with a dual engine configuration comprising a petrol and an electric engine compliment each other at different levels of speed during the journey.
"At high speeds the petrol engine propels the car and as the car slows the electric motor kicks in acting as a generator that charges the electric battery in the car," said a Honda spokesperson.
The Civic hybrid that was launched in the US and Japan in 2006 has crossed sales of over 220,000 units worldwide. Honda Siel refused to give sales estimates for the Civic hybrid.
India's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki in addition to offering dual fuel options (petrol and LPG) in the Wagon R and Omni brands, has now made available the Maruti 800 in dual fuel option too.
"Dual fuel vehicles have always formed a prominent part of our overall product strategy. The car is economical to drive and being factory fitted, it is completely safe." said Mayank Pareek, executive officer, Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki.
While the company sells about 7,000 units of the Maruti 800 model per month, about 27 per cent of the current sales in this month alone have been logged by the LPG variant.
For May this year the company sold 15,000 units of Wagon R - the highest ever in the brand's monthly sales performance while on average it sells between 10,000 and 12,000 units per month. 27 per cent of this number is derived from sales of the dual fuel Wagon R.
For the Omni series that sells about 7,000 units per month the percentage of sales derived from dual fuel variants is 27 per cent too. The company has said there are no waiting periods for the dual fuel cars.
In addition to its flagship model Santro available in the CNG model since last year, Hyundai has now made available its best selling mid-size sedan Accent with the CNG option, which will make it Rs 56,500 costlier.
"The dual fuel Accent will use Compressed Natural Gas as an alternate fuel. The Accent comes with a 1.5 litre petrol engine, which without any modification is compatible with CNG," it added.
Due to the restricted availability of CNG fuel in the country, currently available in the capital now, both CNG models are currently sold in Delhi alone. The share of the CNG variants stands at 10 per cent each for both models and is expected to touch between 20 and 25 per cent by end of 2008.
In addition to the CNG fuel option, the company plans to strap all its models starting with Santro with LPG options from August this year. This move is to counter the lack of CNG refilling stations outside Delhi.
Mahindra Renault's Logan CNG version is expected to be launched shortly, while no date has been announced by the M&M for the launch of the MUV Scorpio's hybrid variant.
The manufacturer of India's first electric car, Reva, Reva Electric Car Company (RECC) has seen a 50 per cent jump in enquiries since oil prices were increased last year. It plans to sell 3,000 units of the car available in three models for 2008. About 2,500 Reva currently ply in London and Bangalore. The electric car major hopes to increase its distribution to other Indian cities.
"The car is 40 per cent cheaper to maintain than a conventional petrol car. That's because the car doesn't require frequent changes in oil and air filter, spark plug and radiator maintenance. In addition, electric cars deploy regenerative braking, which means once the car slows down the electric motor turns into a generator and charges the battery pack in the car boosting the energy reserve," said Chetan Maini, deputy chairman and chief technology officer of RECC.
