India’s Drivers Grow Less Interested in Eco-Friendly Cars

47 percent of Indian respondents to a Statista Consumer Insights survey between October 2023 and September 2024 said that the environmental impact would be a key purchase criterion for a car. Compared to the same survey timeframe in 2021, this number dropped by six percentage points. Among 16 purchase criteria surveyed, eco-friendliness comes in at a shared fifth spot for Indian consumers, together with design and good warranty and customer service.

The most important aspect when purchasing a car is its safety (66 percent), followed by high quality (59 percent) and fuel efficiency (55 percent). Three years prior, safety was almost as important (68 percent) and fuel efficiency played an even more significant part for potential car buyers in India (61 percent).

Cars have always played a less important role in Indian society, with two-wheelers making up the vast majority of vehicles on the South Asian country's roads. As data from the official Vahan dashboard aggregated by Clean Mobility Shift shows, of the 237 million vehicles registered between 2013 and 2024, around 33 million were four-wheelers and 179 million were two-wheeled vehicles. 4.7 million of all registered vehicles were EVs, with about 30 percent of all three-wheelers falling into this category.