It costs a few million Indian rupees and guzzles petrol, but you need not worry anymore atleast on the running costs. Believe it or not, Mercedes Benz is seriously considering CNG engined cars for India. Apart from making it cheaper to run on CNG than even the cheapest car on Indian roads, the Maruti 800 running on petrol, the alternate fuel also promises to bring down emissions considerably.

One such car has touched the Indian shores and runs 20 kms on a single kilogram of CNG. The engine and power details are still forthcoming. CNG costs less than half the cost of Petrol which sells for Rs. 45.52 in Delhi at Rs. 19. What remains to be seen is how will the uber rich in India who buy these cars will take to CNG or standing in the queue to fill up CNG in their cars.

The German giant is very serious about the alternate fuel as fuel crisis grips the world and a heft price increase on the horizon. The company has imported a couple of CNG compatible cars in Delhi and Mumbai and will see customer response. Mercedes Benz plans to bring its globally successful CNG sedans to India as it gives the super rich an option of spend less on fuel.

“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.

It had already launched its B class B170 NGT and the E 200 CNG sedans in the US and Europe and plans to extend them to India. For its new CNG range in India, Mercedes is banking on institutional sales where vehicles ply largely on CNG technology.

Mercedes in on a bit of a roll in India. The company has sold 1330 cars in the first 4 months of 2008 compared to total sales of 2,491 car in the whole year in 2007.