Japanese car manufacture
Nissan Monday launched the diesel variant of its
mid-size sedan Sunny, priced between Rs.7.98 lakh and Rs.8.78 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) with a mileage of 21.64 km per litre.The company thinks the new variant would help in capturing the growing diesel car market in the country.
The car is
available in two variants of XL and XV. Nissan had launched the petrol variant of the Sunny last September. Despite the higher cost of owning the diesel-powered car, customers who use diesel cars for at least 15,000 km per year will break even in 3-5 years due the gap between prices of petrol and diesel.
Diesel vehicles are therefore more viable at the current price difference between petrol and diesel. The
preference for diesel cars is expected to increase over the next five years, said the report.
In response to the increasing sales of
diesel-powered cars, carmakers have been launching diesel variants of their car models especially in the small car segment, which accounts for about 70 per cent of the Indian passenger car market. In 2010-11, more than one-fifth of small cars sold were diesel models
