Hindustan Petroleum has announced the launch of a new high-performance fuel ‘poWer 99’ which has been made specifically for high performance cars and SUVs in India. The high performance petrol will be the second one of its kind in India after Bharat Petroleum’s Speed 97 which has been the only option for supercar, sports car and performance car owners so far. Currently, the fuel will only be available in the city of Bangalore but expect more metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Chandigarh and Hyderabad to get it soon too. Expect the 99 octane rated fuel to be about Rs 20 per litre more expensive than standard 89 octane fuel.
Apart from performance cars, the fuel will also be extremely helpful for the small yet growing motorsport community in India that uses the race tracks in Chennai, Coimbatore and Delhi on a regular basis. The high octane fuel will also be extremely crucial for performance motorcycles from manufacturers like Triumph, Harley Davidson and Ducati amongst others.
Although the new fuel will be considerably more expensive per litre, the extra 10 octane does have an immediate and noticeable effect on power delivery of almost any modern petrol engine. The by product of having a higher octane rated fuel that burns better is also reduced emissions for petrol cars which results in lower NOX and CO outputs.
Although there is a market for these high performance petrol in India, the more urgent need of the hour is a cleaner burning low sulphur diesel which can help manufacturers meet new emissions standards like BS 6 that are expected to roll out in the next few years. The new diesels will also make modern diesel cars a lot more cleaner in terms of lower particulate emissions which will help control smog in cities like Delhi and the NCR region
