TL;DR
Petrol-powered cars, including hybrids, still represent half of India's new car market, despite the rise of alternative fuels.
Despite the growing adoption of alternative fuels, petrol-powered vehicles continue to account for roughly half of the new car market in India, particularly when hybrid models are included in the petrol category. This insight comes from a granular analysis by JATO Dynamics, which provides a counterpoint to reports suggesting alternative fuels have surpassed petrol in overall passenger vehicle retail.
The data for August's passenger vehicle registrations revealed that while conventional petrol models made up 41.2% of the market, an additional 6.9% were petrol hybrids and 1.9% were strong hybrids. JATO Dynamics India President and CEO, Ravi Bhatia, clarified that both mild and strong hybrids rely fundamentally on internal combustion engines and petrol, despite their electric assistance for improved fuel consumption. This indicates that while the market is diversifying, a significant portion of vehicles still depend on petrol, even with electrification technologies integrated.
