NEW DELHI: Demand for CNG-powered cars rose sharply in 2024 even as total passenger vehicles (PV) grew by less than 5% during the calendar year. Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer of marketing and sales at Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) said they sold 453,000 units in the period of April-December, a growth of 26.3% over 2023.
“In terms of the CNG penetration, the contribution has now increased to 38.7%. During the same period last year, it used to be 31.4%, indicating a growth of nearly 7.3%,” added Banerjee. In CY24, CNG sales were over 5.76 lakh units for MSIL. The carmaker’s total PV sales in 2024 stood at 17.91 lakh units, up by 2.7% year-on-year.
Rohan Kanwar Gupta, vice President & sector head, corporate ratings at ICRA said improving CNG availability and favourable operating economics aided by its superior mileage, have aided an increase in the adoption pace of the powertrain over the past few years (17% in H1 CY24).
Gupta added that the launch of various variants by leading OEMs has also enhanced the options available to the buyers and has in turn further aided demand for CNG vehicles. “Stricter emission norms and restrictions on polluting vehicles are expected to result in a continuation of a general shift towards cleaner vehicles over the medium term, thereby leading to an increase in adoption of CNG, hybrid and EV powertrains,” he said.
For Hyundai Motor India (HMIL), CNG vehicles contributed 13.1% of its domestic sales in CY24. Hyundai sold 605,433 units in CY 2024, up 0.6% when compared to CY 2023 sales. . “The introduction of our innovative Hy-CNG Duo technology in 2024 resonated well with buyers, resulting in the highest CNG contribution of 13.1% to HMIL’s domestic sales in CY24, as against 10.4% in CY23,” said Tarun Garg, whole-time director and COO at HMIL. Similarly, Tata Motors saw a surge in demand for CNG-powered vehicles. “We registered a 77% growth in our CNG volumes, selling over 120,000 CNG vehicles in CY24,” said Shailesh Chandra, managing director of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd. Contrary to this growth, Tata Motors electric vehicle sales grew by just 6% year-on-year to 16,119 in the October-December quarter.