The brand is introducing an ‘S-CNG’ option for the two models, with prices ranging between Rs 8.28 lakh and Rs 12.24 lakh, according to Senior Executive Director (Marketing & Sales) Shashank Srivastava.
“This year, we should be selling close to 4 lakh CNG cars as against 2.3 lakh cars that we sold last year,” Srivastava was quoted as saying by PTI.
Maruti had first introduced CNG in the year 2010, with the Eeco, Alto and WagonR. The brand has “so far sold 1.14 million CNG vehicles” in total, according to Srivastava.
On the Baleno and XL6 CNG options, he said production has already started and “we will be starting the sale in the first week of November”
The Baleno S-CNG will be available in two variants. Delta, manual transmission (MT) to be priced at Rs 8.28 lakh and Zeta (MT) tagged at Rs 9.21 lakh, while the XL6 S-CNG will be available only on Zeta (MT) variant at Rs 12.24 lakh (all prices ex-showroom).
Citing the example of the company’s other popular hatchback Swift, on which it introduced the CNG option in August, Srivastava said the penetration currently is around 14-15% and the expectation is for a similar level for the Baleno CNG.
On the overall demand for CNG vehicles, he said the average bookings per day last year was about 1,300-1,400 and it went up slightly in the first quarter of this fiscal to 1,400 to 1,500 range.
“Subsequent to the increases in the CNG prices it has come back to the same level as last year, which is about 1,300 to 1,400 range per day and it has remained constant there,” Srivastava added.
With inputs from PTI
