Does a diesel mini still catch buyers fancy? Going by the sales of
the diesel Indica, it most definitely does. The sales of the Zen D
on the other hand wouldn’t suggest the same. What is it then
that distinguishes the two? Caught, we are, in the crossfire between
the duelling diesel minis.
The petrol vs diesel debate shows no signs of ebbing. There was a
time not too long ago when every car maker had to have a diesel engine
in its portfolio if the inauspicious red ink was to be kept at bay.
Ford had one in its arsenal right from word go, Opel didn’t
do too well since it didn’t have one, PAL succeeded in botching
up Fiat’s diesel Uno, while even Hyundai succumbed to the lure
of the oil burner for the Accent. Homeboys Telco, Mahindra and Bajaj
Tempo specialised purely in noisy smelly diesels. Even the most vehement
opponent of diesel cars, Maruti Udyog, finally had to succumb to the
Indian demand for diesels. And since its parent (Suzuki) couldn’t
be bothered with adding a diesel to its burgeoning portfolio of superbikes,
outboard motors and pre-fab houses, the excellent TUD5 engine was
sourced from Peugeot. That after blowing loads of greenbacks on lobbyists
to pressurise the government to ban diesel cars outright.
In this day and age though, with the abolition of the administered
price mechanism and removal of subsidies/surcharges on oil imports,
the disparity of price between petrol and diesel has descended to
sensible levels, reflecting international trends. The Indian consumer
too has awakened to the hidden costs inherent in diesel cars and no
longer is the oil burner the natural economical choice. It is thus
that the petrol car has seen a resurgence and in fact is preferred
to its diesel sibling in urban India. Don’t rule out the diesel
car altogether though, since the serpentine queue leading to the dirty
end of the petrol pump shows no sign of disappearing.
Down in the B-segment, diesel action is presently limited to two players,
the Indica and the Zen. The Tata Indica needs no introduction. That
it regularly goes to finishing school for an update on manners and
mannerisms is common knowledge, the most recent graduate, the V2 ’02
being on test here. On the other side of the spectrum we have the
Maruti Zen diesel, rarely talked about or even seen, for that matter.
Four years down the line neither has the car seen any engineering
updates or modifications of any sort nor a desire by her parent to
augment and promote sales.
Purists will argue that that’s because the Zen was right from
the off while the same can’t be said of the homemade one. Maybe,
maybe not, the past in any case is old hat now. What counts is what
we have right here and right now. Namely the V2 ’02 Indica and
Zen slugging it out for diesel supremacy. The issue gets settled in
the next six pages.
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