Thursday, November 10, 2011
By Pranjal Gera
Hefty Demand for Diesel Cars Boom up Sales, Fuel Stations Crowded
Country’s fuel stations and petrol pumps are confronting huge rush because of the rising number of diesel cars that have registered a wonderful sales mark of nine-fold increase. This is a terrific growth in diesel car sales as people are now altering their choices from petrol to diesel fuel. Due to frequent hike in petrol prices, the demand for diesel cars is enhancing and the domestic auto market is experiencing a great time with booming diesel car sales.
The difference between petrol and diesel price is increasing with time and now after recent boom, petrol has become costlier than diesel fuel by Rs.19.64 in Delhi. The marginal difference has increased over 30%. And this is the real reason behind thriving diesel car sales figures.
According to government data, in year 2000 only four or five cars out of hundred vehicles in Delhi were running on diesel but with flourishing demand for diesel cars, the number has reached to 36.
But on the contrary, fuel stations that supply diesel fuel are quite in a mess due to rush and more importantly because of space issues as the fuel stations are not well-equipped to offer good services. One of the pump owners expressed that pumps in Delhi and other metros are old and were designed with petrol cars in mind. They have one-two diesel dispensers near the entrance so that trucks etc get the re-fueling from the boundary itself. But the swelling number of diesel cars is resulting in crowding at diesel bays.
A senior Indian Oil official mentioned that new pumps are being designed according to changed profile of vehicle sales and now the petrol companies are installing multi-product dispensers to effectively solve the issue of crowd. Each of these dispensers can push four products. So customers can drive to any bay. At about Rs. 4 lakh a piece, the installation of such nozzles would cost Rs. 20 lakh on an average for each pump.
