Why Are Most Petrol Cars Under Powered in Nature in India?

[Raaj]

Although we've strong buyers all across, why the car makers in India are still making the underpowered engines for Petrol Cars? (Especially Hatchbacks)

Be it i20, Maruti, Punto, Volkswagan, Renault, Nissan, Ford, Tata and the list goes on are still experimenting with underpowered petrol engines only. Will we ever have a powerful Petrol Car with decent price with good fuel efficiency?

Any technical difficulties involved in it? Or they just assuming Indian Market likes diesel cars only?

 

[VivekRj.Dieselhead]

Re: Why the Under Powered Petrol Cars are Making in India?

Welcome to TAI buddy.
Underpowered petrol cars are making just because of us. Kitna deti hai factor. And if you check punto is also available in 1.4L engine option and that is not underpowered. And if you want real fun then you can have linea tjet costing just 7.6lacs ex-showroom delhi. Lower than many diesel hatches with 113bhp of power and turbo boost.

 

[Tornado]

Re: Why the Under Powered Petrol Cars are Making in India?

Although we've strong buyers all across, why the car makers in India are still making the underpowered engines for Petrol Cars? (Especially Hatchbacks)

I would like to make a correction -(Especially sedans instead of hatchbacks)

Two important reasons are road conditions and driving manners followed by other drivers.

 

[nozzlering]

Re: Why the Under Powered Petrol Cars are Making in India?

One of our prime concern while buying a car is "How much distance its gonna cover in a litre of fuel?" In fact its a very good thing. Imagine the world's second largest population running after high powered engines. How much more we would have been adding to global warming!
I would say Cars available in Indian markets are not under powered. They just strike a wonderful balance between power and economy. Not to mention, they pollute less.

 

[Ajay Sreedhar]

Re: Why the Under Powered Petrol Cars are Making in India?

Powerfull petrol engines have to be fiat t-jets and the honda's. Nice you put this thread up. I was in the same opinion why less options in the powerfull petrol section ?

 

[amit1km]

Re: Why the Under Powered Petrol Cars are Making in India?

sourced from
India

The new budget increases taxes levied on SUVs and multi-purpose vehicles (MUVs) at the time of purchase. Specifically, the excise tax on small cars—defined as cars not exceeding 4m in length and with engines no larger than 1.2l for petrol/CNG/LPG cars or 1.5l for diesels—rises from 10% to 12%. For cars longer than 4m but engines smaller than 1.5l, the tax increases from 22% to 24%. And for all cars with engines greater than 1.5l (mainly SUVs and MUVs), the budget replaces the tax rate of 22% plus ₨15,000 with a flat 27% tax rate.

Apart from mileage Indian Tax system also discourage for more powerful engine. So car manufacture normally stay within the limit as specified by government or else car price will be ridiculously high for a hatchback.
If somebody want more powerful engine for hatchback, it has to be imported with tax.

 

[MightyMe]

Re: Why the Under Powered Petrol Cars are Making in India?

I agree with Amit.
The manufacturers are bound by government tax structure.Although the recent developments in direct injection and turbocharging have made it possible for the manufacturers to offer more power from a small capacity engine and still keep fuel economy in check,examples are the Fiat 1.4 Tjet,Ford Ecoboost 1.0 and the VW's 1.2 TSI,but these engines also have two major problems-
1)Real time mileage is generally less then the claimed figure.
2)Long term reliability issues,since these engines are more complex and have more working parts the chances of something going wrong are high.also these engines are costly to manufacture then their naturally aspirated counterparts.
With these concerns in mind,one may wonder whether to invest more for a turbo charged engine and live in the fear of something going wrong or buy a reliable naturally aspirated engine and with it peace of mind.
Fiat had a wonderful car in the Palio 1.6 but due to its cost and Fiat's image it didn't set sales chart on fire.Similar is the case with the Polo 1.6 which although sold in some decent numbers but the numbers weren't enough to please VW hence they brought in the 1.2 TSI albeit with a DSG gearbox.
On a optimistic note I feel by 2015 we will have some real hot hatches.

 

[VivekRj.Dieselhead]

Re: Why the Under Powered Petrol Cars are Making in India?

Don't worry guys, punto abarth is on the edge of being launched. It would be having massive power. And this would be the only low budget sports car in India. So just wait and watch, but I am sure there won't be much takers due to mileage issues associated with it being a petrol and equipped with high powered engine. It would happen till this year end.

 

[Superbad]

Re: Why Under Powered Petrol Cars Are Making in India?

for once petrols need more CC to be turbo fitted. that too when implemented drive costs upwards.

larger CC engine would mean , lesser mileage and traditionally petrol engines are not known for their fuel efficeincy as compared to their diesel counterparts.

only if fuel was priced similar to prices in goa, we would have seen a lot more powerful petrol engines in india.
there are more polo GT Tsis sold in goa than the rest of the regions is anybody's guess.

 

[set12]

Re: Why Under Powered Petrol Cars Are Making in India?

India is a developing country after all and car manufacturers are just catering to the demand of our market. A car is a mode of transport from point A to B here. For petrol car buyers the most important criterion is generally mileage (thanks to ridiculous petrol prices). Bringing a fuel efficient yet powerful engine drives up the cost, eg Ford Ecosport, which will never sell in volumes.

Also practically speaking, most petrol car buyers mainly use their cars for city driving. Where are the roads here to enjoy a powerful car. In city's congested roads it makes no difference if you have a hatchback with 70 bhp or 200 bhp. What matters to most people is low end engine power along with good mileage, which is what car manufactures aim to provide us.

People who frequently do highway drives where you can actually exploit a powerful car generally opt for diesels due to its cost.

 

[Releesh]

Re: Why Under Powered Petrol Cars Are Making in India?

Also practically speaking, most petrol car buyers mainly use their cars for city driving. Where are the roads here to enjoy a powerful car. In city's congested roads it makes no difference if you have a hatchback with 70 bhp or 200 bhp. What matters to most people is low end engine power along with good mileage, which is what car manufactures aim to provide us.

People who frequently do highway drives where you can actually exploit a powerful car generally opt for diesels due to its cost.

set12@
100% agree to the point marked in bold. It is right that the low end engine power(torque?) and mileage is the dream of most 1200 cc or below petrol engine car owners. except Santro most of these small cars struggle to move in 1st & 2nd gear when the car is fully loaded(i e 5 people with A/c). Situation get worst when we need to reverse the car in a small incline with load and engine will die at least 2 times. Using these cars in traffic makes our legs pain.

I think before govt fixed the tax barrier for small car to 1.2 ltr, most of the mid size models have either 1.3/1.4 ltr engines and for sedans it was 1.5 ltr. though these companies mentions that these 1.2 ltr engines have better milage, as per my experience some of the 1500 cc engines are way better than this.

 

[rafian]

Re: Why Under Powered Petrol Cars Are Making in India?

- Cars with powerful engines are expensive. The masses cannot afford expensive cars.
- Powerful cars burn more fuel. India cares a lot about mileage. For an average Indian the decision to buy a car or bike weighs a lot on the mileage.

 

[Lawyeronwheelz]

A very pertinent question and something which we all have felt while driving our i10's , wagon r's, polo's. These cars feel terribly under powered in low rpms and more so when the AC is on. We cant really blame the car manufacturers can we? Most drivers are not enthusiasts all they want is a good mileage, resulting in engines being tamed [For eg, new dzire lxi, honda amaze] for the mileage factor and compromising on the drivability factor

 

[VivekRj.Dieselhead]

The above mentioned posts simply implies that indian petrol cars are under powered only and only because of us. But guys we people also gave to some high powered cars "gas guzzlers". I think most of the manufacturers always keep this in their mind while deciding to launch any new model.

 

[navnit013]

Well, A few point from me:
- This fetish for 1.2ltr petrol engine and 1.3ltrs diesel engine is as a result of Govts tax regime.
- A small/less powered engine is efficient in stop go (idling speed) driving situation.

NOW my argument:

A small low powered engine doesnt directly mean high fuel efficiency. On a long distance run, a Manza with 75 bhp 1.3 ltr engine is likely to be less efficient compared to a Manza with 90 bhp 1.3 ltr engine. Because the higher powered car can easily get to the cruising speed and stay there compared to the lesser powered counterpart.