Petrol, Diesel or CNG: Which Used Car Does Chennai Prefer?

Considered as the Detroit of India, Chennai is vibrant with its automotive culture and home to a pulsating motorsport scene in India for decades. Many leading car manufacturers have their plants in Chennai and that has led to a strong market for both new and used cars. Chennai accounts for 4.5% of India’s second hand car market.

The city has shown a growing preference for compact used cars. The pre owned car market has seen a shift in preference toward SUVs The share of sedans saw a drop while hatchbacks remained top choice, making up 58% of the market again. However, the demand for petrol and diesel-powered vehicles has shifted in favor of petrol. Here is a look into the fuel preferences of Chennai in the second hand car market.

Used Car Fuel Trends in Chennai: Petrol Leads the Way

Internal CARS24 sales data and the  CARS24 Gears of Growth report shed light on Chennai’s used car market.

Key Takeaways from the Data

• Petrol cars make up the vast majority of used cars sold in Chennai.
• Mix of busy and narrow streets in Chennai see compact petrol vehicles preferred.
• Sales of diesel vehicles saw a slight decline due to increasing costs.
• Chennai has barely any penetration in CNG with petrol and diesel still going strong.
• The share of petrol over diesel in Chennai has grown in 2024 compared to 2023.

Do Fuel Types Affect Resale Value In Chennai?

Fuel types play a major role in the resale value of a car indeed. Over the past two years, more stringent emission regulations require diesel engines to have more expensive advanced emission control systems. This led to carmakers phasing out their compact diesel models in favour of petrol and even CNG vehicles. This trend is slowly extending to second hand cars in Chennai as well.

• Diesel remains popular in Chennai’s second hand car market despite new diesel variants being discontinued, but the used car market is still strong, leading to steady depreciation of diesel cars.
• Petrol vehicles enjoy higher resale value due to their consistent demand and many other factors including refinement and lower costs.
• Used CNG cars have seen a consistent demand in both 2024 and 2023 making up a slightly larger share in 2024.
• Like all metros, automatic cars form a significant portion of the used cars in Chennai, but these are mostly petrol powered.

Body Style and Fuel Type: The Correlation

Hatchbacks were the most popular body style for used cars in Chennai followed by sedans and SUVs. While the share of hatchbacks dropped slightly, SUVs have gained ground on sedans with more buyers choosing the all-road ready used SUVs thanks to higher ground clearance and versatility.

Hatchbacks:

Almost all new hatchbacks come only with petrol engines, while a few still offer diesel engines and CNG variants. Used hatchback cars also keep this trend going with a vast majority of used cars sold being petrol powered. As with other cities, Chennai’s preference has seen petrol accumulate a higher share in 2024 vs 2023 with used diesel hatchback cars seeing a 1.5% drop in share.

Sedans:

The best selling used sedans in Chennai were mostly petrol driven though demand for diesel sedans was still consistent. Diesel does offer better efficiency and there are several diesel powered sedans and compact sedans available. The demand for petrol sedans saw a gain of about 2.9%, similar to the drop in the share of diesel sedans.

SUVs:

Interestingly in Chennai, where diesels dominate the used SUV market in 2023, there was an evident change in 2024. More pre-owned SUV buyers chose petrol SUVs with used diesel SUVs losing almost 10% share year-on-year. The demand for used petrol SUVs also jumped by 10% over the same period. You must note that SUV sales also account for MPVs hence there is a larger percentage of petrol and CNG powered SUVs.

Why are Petrol Vehicles More Popular in Chennai?

Petrol powered vehicles are the most popular choice across India. However, there are many reasons behind this other than outright cost. Here are some reasons why petrol vehicles are popular in Chennai:

• The lower price and lower cost of maintenance of used petrol cars makes them top pick.
• Petrol cars are more refined and more reliable making for hassle-free ownership.
• Be it hatchbacks, sedans or SUVs, the majority of automatic variants are petrol-powered. Those seeking convenience at a lower price point will end up choosing a used petrol automatic car.
• Petrol and diesel are widely available across India, whereas CNG refueling stations are still limited.

Most Popular Used Cars in Chennai, Fuel Wise:

While petrol continues to be the most popular fuel for second hand cars in Chennai, buyers in Tamil Nadu’s capital city have shown a continued preference for diesel cars as well. Again it is the used hatchback cars that dominate the numbers. The Maruti Suzuki Swift was the most popular used car in Chennai for both petrol and diesel fuel types. The Maruti Suzuki Wagon R was the best selling CNG car.

Petrol Cars:

Not surprisingly, the country’s bestseller, the Maruti Suzuki Swift, is the most popular used petrol car in Chennai. Four of the top five are hatchbacks, with the exception of the Honda City mid-size sedan in third place. This shows that used petrol car buyers in Chennai prioritise practicality as well as style.

Diesel Cars:

Used Maruti Suzuki cars lead the way in diesel as well with the Swift hatchback and Swift Dzire compact sedan taking the top two spots. Ford, who had a plant in Chennai, are still popular and take up the next two spots with the EcoSport SUV and Figo hatchback. The Mahindra XUV500 was in fifth place thanks to its growing popularity.

CNG Cars:

Used CNG cars in Chennai saw consistently low double-digit sales, with Maruti Suzuki taking three spots. The Maruti Suzuki Wagon R 1.0 was the best selling of the CNG used Maruti Suzuki cars in Chennai with the other being the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga in second. The other three had equal share for third—Maruti Suzuki’s new Wagon R, the Tata Tigor compact sedan, and the Tata Tiago hatchback. Maruti Suzuki’s virtual monopoly in the CNG space has been disrupted with new Tata models employing better packaging techniques. Tata recently introduced CNG models with automatic transmissions.

Chennai’s used car market forms about 4.5% of India’s total used car market and the city has shown a consistent preference for used petrol cars as well as diesel cars, with CNG cars only starting to make an impression in the used car market in the city. The spending power of buyers is seen as high with the growing sales of used SUV cars in Chennai reinforcing that thought.

Conclusion

Petrol and diesel cars continue to rule used car sales in Chennai despite the arrival of many alternative fuel sources including more affordable hybrid and electric vehicles. Stricter new government regulations are bringing in a slight change in perception, but petrol continues to be the fuel of choice even so.

Like most other used car markets, Chennai continues to be driven mostly by petrol thanks to its wider availability as a fuel and the lower maintenance costs of petrol cars. That said, second hand diesel cars continue to retain a considerable share among used cars in Chennai.