[dZired]

Audi India has announced its plans to launch a petrol variant of all models in its portfolio by the first quarter of next year. This step is being taken to adapt to the changing customer preferences in the Indian car market.

The dropping price difference between petrol and diesel, and the diesel car ban in Delhi have cumulatively resulted in a significant inclination in market demand towards petrol cars. Though the diesel ban has now been removed, the lasting impression it has left on the market has increased demand for petrol cars, as compared to diesels.

Audi has internally estimated a sales loss worth Rs. 760 crore this year due to this change in customer preferences. Higher excise rates for diesel vehicles that were imposed in the Union Budget have further negatively affected market sentiments towards diesel cars.

In order to mitigate these effects, the company will be introducing petrol engine options on all vehicles in its portfolio. Only the A3 and A8 sedans in Audi's Indian portfolio are currently offered with petrol engines. The Q range of SUVs is available only in diesel variants. But Audi's India claims that a petrol Q7 will soon be launched. Moreover, we had recently reported that the company has imported a Q3 petrol model in India for homologation, pointing towards its launch in the near future. Audi will also launch the new-gen A4 sedan next month, which will be powered by a 1.4-litre, turbocharged petrol engine.

Interestingly, Mercedes-Benz India is also taking a similar strategy of introducing petrol models across its portfolio.

Source: ET Auto

Link to Team-BHP News

[GTO]

It's a bittersweet moment if you ask me.

On the one hand, these European car manufacturers are bringing in direct-injection turbo-petrols which have excellent power, low end torque & reasonable fuel economy. Naturally-aspirated petrols never matched the common-rail diesels; however, the new age turbo-petrols surely do.

On the other hand, I don't agree with Audi's decision on equipping its cars with the small 1.4L petrol. A luxury car should offer a premium experience in every which way, including the engine (which I consider to be the most important component of a car). 'Adequate' doesn't cut it for 30+ lakh cars. 'Awesome' is more like it, and the 1.4L is far from awesome.

[riteshritesh]

Originally Posted by GTO

'Adequate' doesn't cut it for 30+ lakh cars. 'Awesome' is more like it, and the 1.4L is far from awesome.

99.99% of the Premium car buyers are people who buy for 'sho-sha'. They just care for the '4 bangled logo'. They would be okay even with a 800 cc engine under the hood.The rest are here on T-Bhp.

On a serious note, the 1.4 Litre would be more fuel efficient than the 1.8 they used to/still offer ( ?) on the A4 a few years ago. At some corner of the buyers mind is that perpetual question "kitna deti hai", which is why they must have decided to plonk in the 1.4L.

[hybridpetrol]

Originally Posted by riteshritesh

99.99% of the Premium car buyers are people who buy for 'sho-sha'. They just care for the '4 bangled logo'. They would be okay even with a 800 cc engine under the hood.The rest are here on T-Bhp.

On a serious note, the 1.4 Litre would be more fuel efficient than the 1.8 they used to/still offer ( ?) on the A4 a few years ago. At some corner of the buyers mind is that perpetual question "kitna deti hai", which is why they must have decided to plonk in the 1.4L.

Seriously - is mileage a concern for a luxury car buyer?
Even if the buyer is going to drive the same car for 1 lakh kms - approximately their savings in the form of petrol would be as small as 2-3 lakhs over the entire period the person is going to drive the car. If the car is driven less, then the saving is next to nothing.

While this kind of savings are big money for a mass market car buyer - I don't understand the logic for a person who has already put in 40 lakhs into the car anyway!

My opinion here is that, Audi could be trying to show improvements in fuel economy figures for efficiency reasons, but the 1.4L is too small in a luxury car. This could only mean one thing: Mass market car makers will go even a step down to research on 400CC or 500CC engines in the future to show 40kmpl!!

[riteshritesh]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Seriously - is mileage a concern for a luxury car buyer?

I was once a luxury car owner ( if the Audi A4 is a luxury car any more) and let me make you aware of one more target market for this segment, Business owners who buy expensive cars to claim benefits in their books of accounts .

These people do care about the FE. Infact, everyone, other than the corporate honchos, who get drivers, cars and Fuel as perks, must be caring about the FE. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that my A4 2.0 Tdi was more Fuel Efficient than my Innova.

[avira_tk]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Seriously - is mileage a concern for a luxury car buyer?

Mileage is absolutely top priority for a majority of luxury car buyers, that's because the cost per km will vary by nearly 100% if you consider engines with like to like performance, say a 320d with a 328i, not the recent blink and miss it 320i. The fact is that the diesel premium is easily recovered in the resale market, where petrol cars sit around, possibly getting the odo clocked at a dealer's. The whole arithmetic about investing money and recovering it elsewhere is just theory, actual buyers with the money know that running costs have to be kept in check and depreciation is the one thing they have to watch out for, that's the reason they can afford to buy a luxury badge in the first place.

The fact is that people who can afford cars costing 40 lakhs and above prefer diesel because in India most are self made and don't see the point in wasting money on a lame petrol variant, other than the 328i, I can't think of a decent mainstream petrol luxury model. The fact is that with newer, better highways, long drives are much more common and having a diesels means no need to fuel at shady highway pumps. My friend landed up at home after a 650km trip from Kerala to Bangalore,( averaging strictly illegal speeds I can't post here) and he said he got nearly 12 kmpl on his 520d and I guess that's why 9 out of 10 5 series buyers go for that version. VAG sells a lot of underpowered mass market junk, the 1.4TSI is something only they could think of, but like I said in another thread, the marketing money is paying off, that review is truly cringe worthy.

[Santoshbhat]

Proper petrol engines from these manufacturers have a major problem in India and that is fuel quality. With competition hotting up premium manufacturers are under pressure to delivery more and more power with their mainstream 2.0L engines. 240PS from a 2.0 is pretty much the norm these days. Low octane rating and adulteration will just not do for these engines. You can probably get away with the lower octane (91 octane) in the major cities and towns but in rural areas and highways, lower octane + adulteration really hits these engines hard. I remember when I owned the Laura TSI with that awesome 1.8 TSI engine, I used to always watch the fuel gauge and range and tank up whenever a decent town with a decent pump came up.

I wait for that day when we will get petrol with the same rating as developed countries. Till we could we are going to miss out on tech laden modern petrol power.

[mijnoirhammer67]

Originally Posted by GTO

It's a bittersweet moment if you ask me.

As GTO said, it is indeed a very bittersweet moment. Audi is going to fill their line up with 1.4L, 1.8L and 2L petrol. 1.4 will be limited to A3, A4 & Q3, 1.8 and 2.0 to the A6, Q5 & Q7. Now tell me, will 220 bhp at best be enough to pull a 3 ton car? All the more, the Q7 will be priced 70 lakhs which OTR would mean around 80. Thats a joke.
If they introduce their 3L petrol, that would make a lot of enthusiast reconsider Audi. Audi currently only has the S5 and TT in petrol on this side of 1 crore with a powerful petrol pot. The A6 petrol feels like a second tier citizen in its own house while the diesel sibling is decorated with the matrix tag. Or else every other car is about 1.4cr+. Yet they wonder how they are losing the top spot to the Bimmer and Benz.

But to be very honest, neither BMW nor Mercedes feel like their petrol engines are very special in the human Avatar. Im not talking bout the M's and AMG's, I'm talking about the other petrol versions. BMW pulled their 3 litre petrol a long time ago. Mercedes too don't have any petrol engine besides the 2L or lesser ones. If any of these 3 brands decide to start localising their 3L petrols and price it aggressively, that could push them over the top. Im sure there are many people ready to spend a small fortune on a true wolf in sheeps clothing. And frankly speaking, if someone is going to spend over 50 lakhs on a car, does FE really matter? As long as its not 5 kms to the litre or less, I think its reasonable.

[Strella]

And frankly speaking, if someone is going to spend over 50 lakhs on a car, does FE really matter? As long as its not 5 kms to the litre or less, I think its reasonable.

Well said. I completely agree with you. When one is spending 50 lakhs approximately , one is equally interested in good performance rather than just mileage only.

I think that there is change in mindset which is needed. Buying a car for 50 lakhs plus and expecting running costs to equal a Maruti 800 is quite amazing.

In the last three years barring the Octavia 1.8 TSI , there has been no good petrol car option upto Rs. 40 lakhs. ( The 328i has been discontinued for sometime now).

[GTO]

Originally Posted by riteshritesh

99.99% of the Premium car buyers are people who buy for 'sho-sha'. They just care for the '4 bangled logo'. They would be okay even with a 800 cc engine under the hood.The rest are here on T-Bhp.

You'd be surprised. Take a look at the sales figures of the Corolla when they brought in the 1.4L diesel. It didn't really improve much. Private owners shunned the 1.4L, and it's the taxi segment that kept the cash registers ringing. Even when the market was majorly in favour of diesels, the 1.4L Corolla had (at best) 50% of sales. Compare that to 75-80% for every other option in the D1 segment.

The Jetta 1.4L's sales haven't been that impressive either.

The man on the street doesn't care about power. But they always ask about the engine size (1.4, 2.0 etc.). That's not to say that they'll splurge on a 3.0L, but at the same time, they have some minimum standards for every segment.

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Seriously - is mileage a concern for a luxury car buyer?

The rich didn't accumulate wealth by blowing away their $$$ . They are known to be the shrewdest when it comes to spending money.

Also keep in mind that a small & overworked 1.4L won't necessarily be more efficient than a relaxed 1.8L. If anything, the difference will be 10% tops.

[avira_tk]

The A6 finally gets a petrol option, the 1.8 which is named as 35TFSI, VAG sure doesn't want everything from the Jetta to the A6 sharing the same engine sizing badges. The 190 bhp tunes sound interesting but worldwide they are offering the 2.0 with excess of 200 bhp which would have been good for marketing also. Priced nearly the same as the diesel, its probably one more reason not to buy it , the other being that its at the end of life and they can't get rid of the old kits quickly enough. Doesn't this share the engine with the A3, which has a 1.8 petrol? That should really appeal to prospective customers.

[Yeldo]

Originally Posted by avira_tk

The A6 finally gets a petrol option, the 1.8 which is named as 35TFSI,

AFAIK, the petrol variant of the facelifted A6 with the 1798cc 140kW 320Nm TFSI engine was launched some time back, not very long after the TDI.

But it was offered only in a lower variant with fewer features that the Diesel which came with larger alloys and reverse camera among other things. Only the Diesel variant was called the Matrix (IIRC) and the petrol was simply the 35TFSI.

Now it seems Audi is offering the same level of equipment as the Diesel in the petrol version also.