NEW DELHI: You needn’t loosen your purse strings on this one as it runs on compressed natural gas (CNG), the cheapest auto fuel in the world. The three-star iconic luxury brand, Mercedes-Benz, just drove in with a CNG-complaint engine, making it more fuel efficient than the India’s cheapest car Maruti 800, which runs only on petrol.
New CNG variant of Mercedes-Benz runs over 20 km on a kg of CNG against its petrol sibling which guzzles a litre for every 12 km. Moreover, CNG comes at less than half the price — Rs 19 — against Rs 45.52 for petrol in Delhi. And it’s much more cleaner than petrol.
As energy crisis grips the world and speculations mount about a hefty fuel price hike, CNG has taken centre stage in Mercedes India plans. The German company has already imported a couple of CNG-compatible cars in Delhi and Mumbai, allowing even the monied to have cheaper fuel options. According automobile industry sources, Mercedes-Benz plans to bring its globally-successful CNG sedans to India.
“We have some cars running on CNG in India. It’s a successful technology and has been developed over the years. We are also trying the bio-diesel option on the E Class saloon here. If these extensive trials are successful, we shall introduce these cars in India too,” said a Daimler India senior executive.
