Indian automobile manufacturers are increasingly exercising the option of keeping the production of petrol models closed due to lack of takers for the cars being produced. This is spite of the fact that majors like Maruti Suzuki have skewed production as much as possible in favour of diesel models. Tata Motors will stop production of commercial vehicles for three days this week at its Pune plant. Maruti Suzuki has a week-long annual maintenance shutdown coming up next week, so it makes sense for it to put the petrol models on hold right now. Toyota Kirloskar isn’t as lucky; it just completed building a whole new facility for petrol engines in Karnataka and now demand for its petrol models has fallen just like it has with everyone else. Fiat India is monitoring the situation and may shut down production for a few days next month depending on demand.
The silver lining is if you’re a car buyer who won’t run the car much, or you’re just a petrolhead, now is the best time for you to strike a bargain with your dealer for that petrol model you’ve always wanted.
