'Dirty' tag drives buyers away: Diesel cars' share in total sales down 9%

Share of diesel dropped to 40% of all personal vehicles sales in FY17 -- the lowest in 6 years

Diesel continues to carry the dirty tag as far as personal vehicles are concerned. Only four in 10 buyers opted to buy a diesel-powered passenger vehicle (car, van or utility vehicle) last year, a decline of nine per cent over FY16. This brings the contribution of diesel passenger vehicles in new sales to 40 per cent in FY17, the lowest in six years.

Data sourced from Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) show that 60 per cent of the buyers in the three-million-unit market opted for a petrol variant in FY17, up from 56 per cent in the previous year. This