The car market may be witnessing a huge shift towards diesel, thanks to the spiraling petrol prices, but that hasn’t influenced Hyundai enough to add a diesel sibling to its latest entry level car – Eon. Speaking to Autocar India, Arvind Saxena, Director-sales and marketing, Hyundai Motor India says, ”A diesel engine will increase the price (of the Eon) significantly. I think the car will lose its (selling) proposition at that price. At some stage we may consider alternate fuel variant. That may be a better option than diesel.” The Eon, which has 6 trim levels, is price between Rs. 2.70 lakh and Rs. 3.72 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai). Hyundai currently has alternate fuel (CNG) variants for its Santro Xing, i10 and Accent.

Tata Motors is currently developing a diesel variant of its entry level car – Nano, and that is expected to be priced very close to the Eon. Currently, Chevrolet Beat diesel is the smallest diesel compact car available in the market, and is priced at Rs. 4.29 lakh for the base variant (ex-showroom, Delhi).