With rising fuel prices, sales of CNG models are on track to jump 54% this year at India’s biggest car maker, Maruti Suzuki.
The company has sold 7.66 lakh units of CNG vehicles in the first eight months of the year, more than the 7.46 lakh vehicles sold in the whole of last year.
At this rate, the company is likely to sell around 11.5 lakh units for the whole of the year, a growth of around 623% over a period of eight years.
In 2010-11, Maruti Suzuki had sold only 15,900 units of CNG vehicles. CNG refers to compressed natural gas — a low-cost alternative to petrol, especially in cities like Delhi.
Since 2011, the company has sold over 5 lakh CNG vehicles.
The share of CNG vehicles has jumped to about 15% of the total sales for the current financial year.
Traditionally, the share of CNG models goes up with increasing petrol and diesel prices.
The company offers the CNG option on Alto, WagonR, Eeco, Ertiga, Celerio, Dzire Tour and Super Carry.
At present, WagonR is the highest selling CNG model.
Most popular in Delhi and surrounding regions, Maruti Suzuki offers CNG options in 150 cities in the country.
Other states with high availability of natural gas, such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, AndhraPradesh, Telangana, Orissa, UP and Punjab, also see brisk sales, the company said.